StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swart is second installation of the StarCraft 2 trilogy, a military, science-fiction, real-time strategy series. The game is developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. The game has various modes, which can mainly classified into 2 categories: Campaign mode and Ladder mode. I will mainly focus on the 1v1 Ladder mode in this analysis.

1v1 Ladder mode, or Melee mode, is where 2 players can play against each other on the same map. Each player can choose to play one of the three races in the game. Each race has its own strengths and weaknesses, thus required a different playstyle. The player’s goal is to destroy all enemy’s buildings before he does to you. This is considered the most well-known form of StarCraft 2.

Some high level best games in StarCraft 2 can be viewed here:

You can even download and play the game for free here:

http://us.battle.net/en

I have attempted to close read the game using the lenses as described in Jesse Schell’s The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses. Below is the results, listing using the lenses described in the book.

• Lens of Essential Experience:

StarCraft 2 essential experience are basically the competitive drama, which occurs in many competitive game. Basically, it can be broken down into 3 parts: the tension when enemy’s actions are unknown, the heat when player’s engaging each other, and the satisfaction and self-worthy of the winner as well as disappointment of the loser. Judging from my own experience, as well as observing the crowd’s “excitement level” in most StarCraft 2 tournaments, the game has definitely well-captured the essential experience described above.

• Lens of Surprise:

Surprises in StarCraft 2 are plenty. It comes under many forms: drop units or slipped clocked units into enemy’s bases; assault, flank, or trap enemy’s armies; etc. It can even be the build you are executing. Rushing for an all-in early attack, hoping to surprise the enemy is a common and basic tactic. Example of this would be a popular “6-pool Zerglings rush” that become a well-known term for even non-StarCraft 2 players. Elegantly, all of these are achievement mainly by using a single RTS-popular mechanics: the infamous Fog of War. Obviously, StarCraft 2 does not lack surprise.

• Lens of Curiosity:

Information is vital in StarCraft 2, as “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles” (Sun Tsu). Hence, players constantly seek to acquire information on what the enemies are doing. Early scouting with workers, sending suicidal units to peek the enemy army’s composition, gaining map control, etc. are example of information seek done by the players. This is the curiosity of the players, the desired to know more about the opponent’s actions. Sure enough, curiosity always presents in any StarCraft 2 matches.

• Lens of Problem Solving:

StarCraft 2 is famous for being a fast paced RTS game, hence it requires split-second decision makings and executions. In any moment during the course of the matches, players are constantly asking themselves long term questions about the game plans and tactics and how they need to adjust based on the information gathered, as well as short term decisions such as army’s composition and position, how to gain advantages over the enemy through harassments, engagement, etc. while protect and respond to enemy’s harassments, etc. Problem solving, without doubt, is part of the StarCraft 2’s experience.

• Lens of Balance:

StarCraft 2 is famous of being well-balanced. In StarCraft, there are always counters to everything. Therefore, there is no dominant unit or strategy in StarCraft. Moreover, the game is not only balanced at the high level pro-gamers, but applicable to any skill levels as well. Therefore, StarCraft 2 is definitely well-balanced.

• Lens of Simplicity/Complexity:

The StarCraft 2 rule and mechanics are simple, and can be fully taught and explained through the first few levels in Campaign Mode. However, the game dynamics and complexities generated through these mechanics are numerous and deep. Hence, the game is well-designed in a sense that it can keep the game’s simplicity yet able to generate gameplay’s depth.

• Lens of Competition:

The game itself is very competitive, and is considered one of the leading ESport game in the world, as well as the best game within its own genre. The competition is formed by the nature of the game itself, such as its game play mode, its high requirement of understandings and skills, and its past face in decision makings and executions. Also, the StarCraft 2 Matching system always find the opponent at about the same level with the player, hence ensure the player always feels challenging but not unfair. The Ladder system in the game also encourage players to keep playing and reward players with league promotion. This system working in conjunction with the Matching system also creates pressure and tension for players, especially before the match. This feeling is commonly known under the name “Ladder anxiety”. Moreover, the game itself has a community of programers whose main job is to constantly training and playing StarCraft 2, hunting for tournament’s prize. There are numerous tournaments hosted every year for StarCraft 2 players to test their skills and compete with other players. This is showed that StarCraft 2 is a competitive game at any skill levels.

Short Description

Defence of the Ancient 2, more popularly known as DOTA 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena video game. The core of the game involves two teams of five players, each side fighting to penetrate the stronghold of the opposing team, and to ultimately destroy their ‘Ancient’ building in order to seize victory (hence the title). The individual players each picks and controls a unique ‘Hero’ character and focuses on levelling, earning goal, purchasing items and last not but not least, fighting the opposing team.

Game website: http://www.dota2.com
Game play demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc9SsckCf_w

Analysis

1. The Lens of Surprise

DOTA enables players to constantly surprise one another through game mechanics such as fog of war, in which vision of the enemy team is always limited, for example, I would not be able to see an enemy unit if it is on a higher ground or say behind a tree thus allowing players to do things such as sneak up against each other, or even discreetly ‘farm’ for gold then emerging suddenly with crazy items.

2. The Lens of Fun

To me, DOTA has been one of the most engaging and fun game I’ve ever played. It’s complex game mechanics allow endless possibilities and playing styles, such that every game I play is always at least slightly different the previous ones, involving different players and different situations that arise from decisions of these players. This ever changing and surprising game play never fails to keep me entertained and engaged. Being able to collaborate with people also adds into the fun, especially when we successfully gang upon an enemy hero.

3. The Lens of Curiosity

While playing DOTA, we are presented with many different scenarios in which we have to constantly question ourselves in order to make what we deemed as the most appropriate decision. Questions like, “am I about to be sneaked upon?”, “is it save to take this route” often run through my head repeatedly. I feel that the game designers had been very successful in forcing us into asking these questions as by experience, failing to so would lead to multiple death of your ‘Hero’ and hence great frustration, also coined as the term ‘feeding’.

4. The Lens of Endogenous Value

DOTA has a number of things that carry endogenous value, one which has significant endogenous value is gold, which is extremely pivotal in the outcome of the game. How fast you can earn gold determines the speed of you obtaining your necessary items in order to achieve an edge over the opposing players. Another example would be ‘hero’ kill score, while not directly resulting in the winning of the game, since game is not won by kill counts but the destroying of the ‘Ancient’, having a high kill count usually is a very accurate indicator of how well your team is doing, higher kill count also means higher revenue since each ‘hero’ kill earns a bounty. A high kill count also gives a sense of satisfaction and achievement, as mentioned in my above game experience.

5. Elemental Tetrad

• Mechanics: I feel that DOTA has great game mechanics that while the main goal of the game is to destroy the opposing team’s ‘Ancient’ building, it still leaves plenty of room for players to explore and try different things.
• Story: DOTA has a short background story but does not quite matter at all, I doubt many actually knows the story behind the game.
• Aesthetic: DOTA 2 is aesthetically pleasing to the eye, a great step up from its predecessor DOTA 1. It even has a marketplace where new skins can be found and equipped onto ‘Hero’ characters.
• Technology: There is nothing special about the technology of DOTA 2, since it is designed to work on even not so high end computers, graphics in DOTA 2 can even be scaled down such that it could run on slower computers.

Royal Revolt 2 is a 3D strategy MMO game for smartphones, tablets and Windows 8 PCs. It brought a breath of fresh air to the classic tower defence games, where now players can assume the role of both defender and attacker. Besides building up their own kingdom and setting up defences to prevent attacks, players now can also raid other player’s castle by sending in their own troops. All these can be done within a few taps and thus making the game easy to learn and play.

Game website: http://royalrevolt.com/

Gameplay Video:

MY EXPERIENCE

Lens #7: The Lens of the Elemental Tetrad

I felt that the technology and mechanics go very well together. Game is easy to access and it is available on our smartphones. I will also play the game even while travelling due to the easy mechanics of the games. I also enjoyed the aesthetics wise of the game as it was cute and allowed me to enjoy the impressive graphic while playing.

The storyline however felt a bit redundant. If a stronger and/or linear storyline could be used, I believe I will be able to connect to the game even more. What kept me playing is the interesting gameplay and the MMO aspect of the game.

Lens #39: The Lens of Time

The game is designed such that time is needed for building of structures and refilling “food” that is needed for raiding other players. This can be frustrating as I may want to play for a longer period but the game disallow me to.

Hence, I usually play the game only for a few minutes, and only get back when I have free time or nothing to do. Sometimes due to the long waiting, I did ever consider if I should quit.

10 minutes is needed for an upgrade

Lens #86: The Lens of Community

The game has a system of rankings, guilds and player raids. This sense of playing with and competing against other real players has somehow increased my competitive spirit, spurring me on to level up and raiding players to increase my ranks or just to get revenge.

However, I felt it still lacks a sense realism of community since the game is not real-time.

Lens #31: The Lens of Challenge

The game system usually paired me up with a stronger player when raiding. It gave me a sense of satisfaction when I am able to beat the stronger players, partly due to my own skills and decisions during gameplay.

However, many times the player will be too strong and I will spend “golds” to be matched with a lower level opponents.

Lens #30: The Lens of Fairness

Royal Revolt 2 is a typical freemium game – a pay-to-win gaming system. It definitely get on my nerves, when players of the same level as me have much better skills and equipment just because they are willing to spend real money on the game.

Luckily there are still players like me who does not spend money, which kept the game partially fair. I also pride myself, if I were to be able to beat those pay-to-win players who are much stronger than me.

Buying Gems with real money

FRIEND’S EXPERIENCE

Lens #7: The Lens of the Elemental Tetrad

My friend found that the technology and mechanics go very well together too. Likewise, at every free time, he will be using his phone to play the game. He even uses his tablet for a bigger and better screen. He sometimes played with the music on, in order to appreciate the game’s aesthetics fully.

As for the storyline, my friend too did not take much notice of it and he will skip all the dialogues of the characters.

Lens #39: The Lens of Time

Almost every free moments he had, he will be checking the game. He would even plan the gameplay to fit into his schedule, to allow the game always be ready for play whenever he is free. This let him not to feel a sense of disruption when the game disallowed to continue playing.

Lens #86: The Lens of Community

He is the leader of his own guild, and with his online friends, they will work and communicate with each other in order to achieve and level up their guild. He actually felt a sense of belonging with the community as they will chat frequently to discuss the game play and strategies.

Lens #31: The Lens of Challenge

He does felt the game is challenging too due to the fact stronger players were always been pair to him during raids. Sometimes he will challenge those stronger players just to test his skill. But similar to me, he will still tend to seek for an easier enemy yet with enough challenge.

Lens #30: The Lens of Fairness

Since my friend spends much more time than me on the game, even if his level may be same as mine, his skills and equipment are much better. This actually kept him near the level of those who pay for the game.

Unlike me, he rarely complains about the fairness of the game. However, sometimes he will still be willingly to spend a bit of money just to keep him on par with the other players and to keep his rankings up.

ANALYSIS

Mobility of device and ease of gameplay

I realized that the most effective way to get a person to be hooked on a game knowingly or unknowingly is the combination of device’s mobility and gameplay’s simple mechanics. A game with an easy gameplay will allow people to play without much thinking or just help them pass time. With the mobility of its gaming device – smartphone, which people carries around most of the time, it further entice the person to play the game almost anywhere and anytime. Just like how my friend and I were, while travelling or waiting for a bus, we will conveniently take out our phone and start playing game. It slowly becomes a habit, for us to play some games on our phone when we are free.

The “waiting” game

Royal Revolt 2 is a game that requires time. I found out that this kind of games tend to led to 3 scenarios.

1. Some gamers, for example myself, may get frustrated of the waiting. This kind of people may only play the game for a few minute and only get back to the game after a long while. They tend not to check the game often. After a while this may lead to their disinterest and stop playing the game.
2. Gamers may be hooked by the game and set notification to notify themselves whenever the game is ready. This causes them to spend almost all their free time on the game.
3. They are the players who hate waiting and are willing to spend. They will spend real money just to decrease the waiting time so they can continue playing as long as they want. This is where the revenue of the game is mainly from.

Through this, we can see that this is one of the way the game is designed to keep the players playing, though it does have its downside to it. However, the popularity of this game showed that the upsides out ruled the downsides.

The (un)importance of storyline

I found that storyline may not be the most important thing in a play-on-the-go game. Many people who play Royal Revolt 2 just want to pass time quickly. Also they may just want to play some game that does not require much thinking. Most of the time they just want to be entertained through fast-paced action gameplay and dynamic graphics. This may be reason why Royal Revolt 2 does not have a complicate story. It only gave the players a simple background story and everything else depends heavily on the main gameplay itself. People who continued playing is not because they are interested in story but because of the well-designed gameplay.

Players prefer games with dynamic graphic

Conclusion

Royal Revolt 2 is a good example of a game breaking out of the mainstream gameplay, by injecting a new perspective to the traditional tower defence game. This further proves that storyline may not be the most important aspect but the game design and ideas are the one that kept the players playing.

Binding of Isaac (BOI)

The Binding of Isaac: Wrath of the Lamb

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swh54ibRSDo&index=1&list=PLA958826F60F5B8B7

The Binding of Isaac is a top-down 2D roguelike in which the player assumes the identity of the protagonist, Isaac, and attempts to escape from his murderous mother by going deeper down each floor of the basement. Progressing further down each floor requires the player to kill all the enemies encountered and defeat the boss guarding the entrance to the next floor. Along the way, power-ups can be obtained to strengthen or weaken Isaac. The game ends when the final boss is killed, prompting the ending scene to start showing. New content is unlocked on completion of certain achievements, with some of the content being new power-ups, new floors or new ending scenes.

My Experience

Lens #7: The Lens of the Elemental Tetrad

Mechanics: Enemies and bosses are characteristically different from each other. Power-ups obtained are stackable with each other. Permadeath keeps the game tense and engaging. Floors being randomly procedurally generated makes each playthrough different and gives me a chance to discover interesting and sometimes hilarious interactions between enemies and power-ups.

Story: Controversial story that touches on dark themes, e.g. religion and child abuse. Each ending is ambiguous and open for interpretation. It piques my interest to keep playing to unlock more endings to further understand the story.

Technology: The game is made in Flash, which while is good enough for the scale of this game, introduced slight lags when activity on the screen got too hectic. This caused slight irritation when the lag occurred, but not enough to spoil the experience.

Aesthetics: Cute artwork but disturbing enemy sprites.

Cute stuff

Overall, the aesthetics and story complemented each other well. The cute artwork was deceptively contrary of the dark themes, creating a unique experience. The mechanics kept things fresh for players that want to keep replaying to know more about the story. Its biggest flaw was technology, which the developer agreed and eventually changed in its sequel: Binding of Isaac: Rebirth.

Lens #27: The Lens of Skill

Bullet Hell

BOI in its essence is a game of skill. Besides testing my reaction speed, it challenges me to make decisions on either rushing each floor or to spend a longer time on each floor farming to possibly become stronger. Each subsequent floor becomes harder, requiring the player to farm floors to become stronger. However, spending a longer time on each floor means possibly taking more damage, making the later game harder.

Lens #20: The Lens of Judgement

The game judges me on whether I have good reflexes and can make smart decisions, and the achievements unlocked and amount of progress made in each playthrough affirms my skill.

Lens #49: The Lens of Visible Progress

From this to THIS

BOI shows my progress during a playthrough. Power-ups all make visible changes to the character and the projectiles. Each new power-up that is picked up add to the change in aesthetics of the character sprite, showing how powerful the character has become. The game also shows the progress of the player’s career in playing BOI. It shows the tally of total number unlockables and how many are left, even changing the start menu to reflect the progress that I have made in unlocking all content of the game. This appeals to the completionist in me, urging me to keep replaying to unlock everything.

Lens #53: The Lens of Control

The control scheme is simple; WASD for movement and arrow keys to shoot projectiles. Use SHIFT to set a bomb, Q to use an item, and SPACEBAR for the spacebar item. Controls respond fluidly to the command of the player. Enemies are fair in that their own AI and movesets do not change. Whenever I lose in the game, the irritation I feel is always with myself as the outcome is due to my control.

My Friend’s Experience

I got a friend who was new to BOI and got him to play a few games for me.

Lens #2: The Lens of Surprise

That’s all you get

At the start of the game, players are simply thrown into the game with four instructions and nothing else. Everything from then on is a surprise for new players. How enemies and bosses move and the effects of power-ups. Nothing is explained at the start and there is enjoyment in exploring new things.

Lens #29: The Lens of Chance

What RNG can do for you

Due the random nature of the game, sometimes the power-ups received are quite underpowered. The friend who played the game felt that the game is too “RNG-reliant”. The power-ups received dictated his progress in the game, and thus became too random.

Lens #69: The Lens of the Weirdest Thing

The setting of the game is weird. Weird monsters appear in the basement and the further down players go, the more detached from reality the game becomes. The ending revealed on completion of the game do not explain anything directly and leaves them puzzled and interested to make sense of the whole story.

Lens #10: The Lens of Resonance

The dark theme and issues dealt with in the game resounds with players. Players can empathise with the main character, and it forces players to think about these controversial issues that are seldom covered. It creates depth for the game and offers additional meaning for players playing it. It creates for a more satisfying playthrough.

Analysis

Comparing the two sets of notes, we both agree that BOI is a satisfying game where the good controls and level design provide an interesting and enjoyable experience. The weirdness of the story and dark theme explored gave the game additional value, making the experience of the players more meaningful.

Using the Lens #7: The Lens of the Elemental Tetrad, we can see that of the 4 elements, none is more important than the rest. Developing the game in Flash has resulted in a somewhat subpar game, where if better technology is used, a better experience for users can be achieved.

However, from the two experiences, we see that there is a conflict of Skill versus Chance. I thought the game had more emphasis on skill while my friend thought that the emphasis on chance. This brings about the difficulty of how to balance skill and chance, which corresponds to Lens #34: The Lens of Skill vs. Chance. In my opinion though, while BOI’s element of chance with power-ups does indeed contribute to ease of a playthrough, an immensely skilled player can still complete the game without strong power-ups. The balance of skill and chance in this game is still acceptable.

From all the lenses we have identified and judging the game based on them, I would argue that BOI has a good game design. The game is designed to be hard for starting players, and through the gradual improvement of the player, the game judges them and reaffirms their steady improvement. The element of chance and randomness of the game allows replayability, which helped to maintain the interest in the story.

Wargame: Red Dragon Analysis

Wargame: Red Dragon is a real-time strategy game by Eugen Systems, which focuses on potential military conflicts in the 1980s, featuring military units with details reproduced from actual sources.

The Game launch trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw3az0LsKc0

Analysis After Playing:

The Elemental Tetrad

The game prides itself on historical accuracy, realistic physics and its IRISZOOM engine, which allows players to zoom in from a satellite view of the entire battlefield, down to ground level to observe individual unit combat. The in-game camera is able to pan, zoom and rotate with very high flexibility, which theoretically enables players to reproduce the gameplay footage in the trailer. The aesthetics and mechanics were extremely well-tied together. All units were given symbols that signified their general role, such as MANPADS, armour and the like. In fact, the player can choose to use NATO’s universal unit type symbols, or the generic RTS ones if they are unfamiliar with military symbols. The story only exists in the campaign, and players usually play skirmish modes or online against one another. The technology behind the AI is less impressive however. Setting the enemy to a higher difficulty does not make them smarter; it only lets them cheat by earning more resources and calling more units.

Lens of Pleasure

As I play Red Dragon, I control the military units of the major powers of the world, pitting against other powers of my own choosing. I can choose to view the battlefield in the typical fashion:

Or more unconventionally, the exact same scene close-up (see the F/A 18C Hornet firing missiles in the background!):

The technology to zoom in seamlessly is not groundbreaking in any sense, but its implementation was coupled with very beautiful graphics, which made it a pleasure to view the combat up close.

Lens of Economy

Every player in the game begins with a set number of points, with which military units can be purchased. Throughout the game, players earn points by maintaining control of key sectors in the map, which provide continuous revenue for the purchase of additional reinforcements. In order to keep things less complicated, the currency is universal, meaning that these points can purchase any kind of unit, as long there is enough of it.

Lens of Problem Solving

The game has an extremely steep learning curve, with over a thousand units to use across the various featured nations, with a lot of detail. For example, the infamous AH-64A Apache helicopter:

I noticed my playstyle tends to lean towards the use of heavy armor and infantry to take control of the map. I dislike sending small sorties against the enemy because of the potential for losses; instead I prefer to scout with inexpensive units and then push forward with overwhelming force.

Lens of Skill

As a direct follow-up from the previous lens, the complexity of the game can make it difficult to decide what units are useful in battle. However, when I managed to learn the usage of these units in battle, it was very satisfying. Furthermore, the game allows you to watch replays of your prior battles (as well as those of other people), so that mistakes can be spotted and corrected in future games.

Analysis After Watching a Friend Playing:

Lens of Pleasure

I noted he was pleasantly surprised that the units all were voiced according to their language and nationality, instead of using heavily-accented English for all units. However, he did comment that this made playing non-English nationalities harder as he was unable to decipher what his units were saying.

Lens of Economy

Being new to the game, but not to the genre, he played frugally, keeping an eye on the points he had. I noticed that he tended to purchase more expensive but powerful units. When asked, he said he was not fond of managing large numbers of weak units.

Lens of Problem Solving

He complained about the large number of choices for units, but after playing a while with the basic choices, he became more able. He chose to use aerial-based tactics such as using napalm bombers to overwhelm infantry entrenched in urban areas, and sending assault helicopters to harass enemy ground forces.

Lens of Skill

He commented that the game does not overly encourage what is known as micro-management; overall strategy is emphasized.

Combined Analysis:

It turns out that people derive different kinds of trivial pleasure from the same game. For example, my friend was impressed and liked the voice acting. In hindsight, I think that it was fairly well-done too. Furthermore, in real-time strategy games, every player has different ways of designing their strategies. I dislike scattering my forces piecemeal, but admit that is primarily due to my incompetence in managing many things at once. As an experienced player in other real-time strategy games, my friend was skilled in manipulating the aircraft and helicopters, and rarely lost any, despite them being unarmoured. In this sense, we solved the same problem in different ways.

CS3247 Assignment 1

Defence of the Ancients 2

http://store.steampowered.com/app/570/

DotA 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) involving 2 teams consisting of 5 players each controlling a “hero” attempting to destroy each other’s respective “ancients” in order to win the game. Designed by Icefrog and his many predecessors including Guinsoo and Eul, the game first made waves in the gaming community as a Warcraft 3 custom game during the “Aeon of Strife era” before it was adopted as a stand-alone in 2013 by Valve.

Latest list of heroes available for selection by players in Dota 2

DotA 2 is a powerhouse in both casual (all-time peak of almost 1 million players) and eSports (USD $10.9 million total prize pool for The International 4). Just like physical sports like soccer and basketball, DotA 2 incorporates both elements of cooperation and competition within an equal game environment.

Steam stats for Dota 2

Prize pool compendium statistics for The International 4

Often criticized for its steep learning curve and unforgivingly harsh environment, players must utilize their knowledge of the game, their mechanical and technical prowess, their prediction of other players’ behaviours, and awareness of the metagame to the fullest in order to win.

Screenshot during a game; this is the scene where the player has been killed by another player, and the camera is looking at a teamfight between two teams with some AI-controlled minions in the fray.

Elemental Tetrad

• Mechanics
  • Mechanics is the key to the game. Understanding the rules and interactions of every aspect of the game is crucial to establishing dominance over opponents.
• Story
  • Just like competitive physical sports, the focus is not on the story, but there is an overarching lore that encompasses the actors and objects in the game for flavour.
• Aesthetics
  • Since split-second recognition and decision-making is highly important, graphical fidelity is kept simple, and high attention is paid to making sure heroes, items and spell effects are uniquely designed to tell them apart immediately in order to access the situation.
• Technology
  • Valve’s Source engine is used to replace the Warcraft 3 engine, which allows for greater creative flexibility in terms of mechanics and aesthetics by removing the engine limitations of its predecessor.

Combined distilled observations resulting from watching myself and friends play

Lens 1: Goals

The ultimate goal in every game is the same; the sole victory condition is to destroy a building in the opponent’s stronghold known as the “Ancient”, hence the name DotA – Defence of the Ancients. While the game does not explicitly state this intention, players mostly learn from other players, from inference and observation of game materials, and from trial-and-error as a result of game design.

For the latter, it is observable that the Ancient can only be targeted after the requisite Tier 4 Towers are destroyed, which in turn can only be targeted if its previous tier towers are destroyed. This natural progression of inference, emphasized further by the successive positioning of the 4 tiers of towers, leads one to induce that the Ancient would naturally be the “Tier 5 tower” that should next be destroyed.

Tower Tier position guide based on WC3 Dota mini-map

In order to reach the victory condition, there are many sub-methods, or strategies to utilize. However, the game does not disclose any of them, because the effectiveness of these strategies is highly dependent on the current game’s meta (the popular environment resultant from changes made in the latest game version) as well as the proficiency and drafts of both teams.

For example, during TI3, professional eSports team [A]lliance won by utilizing a split-push strategy that involved distraction and fragmentation of team members (more popularly derided as “rat doto”). During TI4, the meta resulted in Chinese teams – such as Newbee, Vici Gaming, and Team DK – changing their strategy from a late-game turtling strategy (known as “ricing”) to an early-game 5-man push strategy (known as “push doto”).

Lens 2: Rules

The rules of the games decide its mechanics which in turn decide the game’s meta, thus knowledge and proficiency of it is the key determining factor of victory. From micro-specific knowledge – such as “animation backswing” (time taken between the execution of a current action to the next queued action) and “cast point” (time taken to cast a spell) of each hero, to macro-specific knowledge – such as “fog of war” (areas of the map that players lack vision) and “creep aggro” (rules that AI-controlled minions follow that decide who they target).

Reddit’s flowchart guide on Tower Aggro

The same rules are applied to every player, and they are unyielding and concrete in every single game, with changes explicitly outlined in the patch notes. While different game modes exist, most of them merely change the drafting stage (“All Pick” allows players to choose any hero that has not been chosen by other players, while “All Random” forces every player to select a random hero) while maintaining the rules of the core game.

There are so many rules that govern so many interactions that both the knowledge of all the relevant rules and the ability to exploit and execute them in the heat of the moment makes up the skill curve in the game.

Lens 3: Skill

The skills that differentiates high and low skill brackets can be broadly categorized as mechanical prowess (ability to execute actions well at the optimal timing and positioning), game awareness (knowledge of rules, constant awareness of the environment and spontaneous decision making), and communication (organizing and executing strategies and tactics, ability to pull off team synergies effectively).

While communication is highly dependent on the team dynamic and the level of cooperation within the players, the first two skill categories will largely vary between the skill brackets and are the major benchmarks of player skill. Naturally, mechanical prowess can improve upon repetitive practice, but game awareness can only improve if one makes a mindful effort to do so.

Lens 4: Chance

Luck is prevalent in many aspects of the game, from minor (damage ranges of normal attacks) to moderate (type of rune spawn) to major (effects of special attacks). While Icefrog has made attempts to normalize and reduce the effects of randomness, such as allowing 2 runes to spawn in both positions instead of 1 rune at a random position, and by introducing a “pseudo-RNG system” that partially introduces a level of determinism into probability-based events, there still exist game changing major events that are purely determined by chance.

Non-exhaustive list of effects relying on random chance

However, these are sometimes balanced by a factor of risk-taking (“If the dice rolls correctly I win the fight, if it fails I lose the fight, so should I or should I not take the fight?”), and the skill level and experience of a player determines his ability to balance reward and risk optimally in the split-second when its required.

From a comic by NerfNow.com, it illustrates the hero (Ogre Magi) that is the definition of “game-changing luck”, who has the innate ability to cast several spells multiple times simultaneously (Multicast) while retaining its effectiveness throughout the game without requiring any equipment.

Analysis from perspective of Lenses

Lens 1: Goals

While there have been methods to ease in new players ranging from game tutorials to loading screen tips, I believe that more can be done to outline the overarching decisions players need to make in every stage of the game. The victory condition should always be explicitly announced at the start of the game, and the sub-conditions should be outlined in a corner of the UI (allow experienced players to hide it). This allows new players to constantly keep track of their progress and to gain familiarity with the stage of the game they are currently at.

Lens 2: Rules

Due to the encyclopaedic volume of rules it is impossible to outline them all during play; it is similar to how the referee expects players to understand the rules and infractions of the soccer without outlining it to them. Therefore, knowledge of the rules is part of the learning curve that makes up a player’s skill level. However, more can be done by the developers providing the necessary information explicitly, though this in part has been mitigated by guides posted by players.

Lens 3: Skill

The balance of skill requirements in the game is excellent. While heroes vary in skill ceilings in order to utilize them to their fullest, they are almost balanced not by pure power (a high skill ceiling hero does not always win a low skill ceiling hero) but by utility.

Therefore, the core skills required in the game tends to be universal across heroes, and combined knowledge and proficiency of game-specific skill and hero-specific skill forms the entirety of a player’s ability to perform, with the former always holding dominance. Also, a large proportion of skill is determined not by mere regurgitation of facts, but by real-world attributes such as spontaneous decision making and team management.

Lens 4: Chance

I believe that more can be done to mitigate the pure randomness of some events. For example, an item called “Sange” has a % chance inflict an effect. Another MOBA called HoN implemented this by making it 100% chance to inflict a fraction of the effect, with each successive attack adding to the effect to a specified maximum. For another example, a hero called “Faceless Void” has an ability that inflicts an effect with a 25% chance. HoN implemented this as a 100% to inflict this effect every 4^th attack.

Comparison between implementations of the same item idea in HoN vs DotA

As mentioned earlier, Icefrog selectively implemented a pseudo-random distribution that made every probability-based interaction dependent on each other (instead of independent like a true random distribution) that mimics the expected long-term expected behaviour of a true random distribution even for low volume of samples. However, there are still areas that are open pure chance that may majorly affect gameplay, including the examples mentioned above.

Probability distribution of pseudo random vs true random

On a kinder note, many of these have been mitigated by the decision-making process of players and their risk appetites, and it introduces an element of speculation and risk-taking in gameplay. Admittedly, it would also be difficult to rework some of the random-based effects while keeping the intention of its existence similar, and creative implementation would be required to do so effectively.

Gameplay:

This game consists of several stages (each stage contains a number of different type of races such as ‘classic’,  ‘drift’ and ‘infected’) in which the next stage can only be unlocked once sufficient points is accumulated by playing the races in current stage. I had chosen to do an observation and analysis, playing the classic race mode in which the goal is to compete with 5 other Artificial Intelligent (AI) cars to reach the finishing line first. The car runs on free acceleration as the player does not have to press any key to accelerate. The player however, has to press anywhere on the left side of the screen to apply the brake or to reverse, and on the right side to activate nitrous.

My Experience

• This game is very thrilling as my emotions throughout the game constantly changes according to the situation of the game. This experience is governed by the lens of surprise and fun. I am elated and satisfied when I win or overtake an AI. However my feelings are reversed and stress takes over when I am losing or when I am re-spawning after a crash. It is an anxious filled situation while guarding the other AIs from overtaking me.
• Much focus and attention is needed during the process of overtaking and the resistance from being overtaken. This is contributed by the lens of flow. As I am playing this game, I realized that I become oblivious to my surrounding. I recognize noise and conversations occurring in my environment but my ability to process them is impeded. Upon completion of my game, I would try to recall if there were any significant conversations that I may have heard while playing the game.
• The interest and captivation of the game is not limited to a simple concept of racing. The game poses a career mode in which the player has to continue playing each stages to unlock the next stage and eventually unlock all the super cars. This progressive mode allows me to pass through stages upon winning and collect money or credits which can be used to upgrade or buy a better car as the AIs will get tougher in following stages. This is contributed by the lens of endogenous value.
• Being a lover of cars, the experience of virtually owning expensive cars and modifying them to my personal taste and preference gives me much satisfaction although the game does not contribute to a real driving experience; the lens of the player.

Friend’s experience

• He commented that the inability to win the race contributes to his frustration. He also claims that boredom strikes when there is a lack of challenge, for example when he is leading and the AI are too far behind him. This particular incident which rarely happen has violated the lens of challenge.
• He also said that the different kind of races such as classic and drift, prevents him from getting bored of the game as there are variations to the expectations and goals of each game. This factor is contributed by the lens of goal.
• He also mentioned that the game is quite fair. This is because, for different stages, the AI car performance are limited to certain capability. As long as our car is in the same category to be competed in that stage, then there are equal chance of winning and losing the game. The game indicates a minimum required performance level for the car in order to stand a chance win a particular selected race in a particular stage of the game. This is not only fair to the player, but also equally fair to the AIs. This is governed by the lens of fairness and competition.
• Unlike me, my friend exploited the game quite adventurously. Rather than just overtaking the AI and preventing them from overtaking him, he tend to overtake the AI by crashing them in a way that will make the AI to re-spawn. As this functionality is supported by the game, he takes full advantage of it. His curiosity in finding out what will happen to the AI when he bang on to them is contributed by the lens of curiosity.

Analysis

• Through the comparison based on the observation above, it is evident that different player undergoes different emotions while playing the game. While I feel nervous in the process of winning the game, my friend feels a sense of determination instead of nervousness. While I experience defeat and dissatisfaction upon losing a game my friend feels a rush of frustration and stronger emotions of failure. On the other hand, winning gives satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment to both of us.
• The approach taken by myself and my friend varies as we attempt to achieve the same goal. I played the right way by overtaking the opponent and preventing them from overtaking me  However, my friend achieves the same goal by crashing the opponents down and using their defeat as an advantage to clinch the first position. This proves that players might explore the game play from outside of the structured and regulated or ‘correct’ way of playing. In some cases, that might be a more interesting approach for the player.
• A player might select this game due to his interest in racing games or have significant interests in cars thus motivating them to continue playing this game. Both me and my friend possess significant interest in cars thus we continue playing this game in order complete all the stages and buy the most expensive car in the game.
• On the other hand, the contributing factor that may interest a player who may not possess prior interests in cars or racing might find this game thrilling due to its progressive feature, as many people are motivated to succeed, win and collect rewards. Furthermore, the element of excitement and addictiveness which was truly engaging for me and my friend could be a key factor to attract more players.
• In any game, the motivation to continue playing is contributed by rewards for effort. This means that the player is rewarded by winning for putting in the effort of strategic planning, time, focus and attention and various contributing factors. The reason for mine and my friend’s continuation to playing this game is because of the fairness and competition of this game. The thrill and challenge to succeed is reasonable and attainable. The challenge is reasonable enough for me and my friend not to give up on playing, and enough to keep us thrilled. The fairness is expressed when we are awarded for our efforts.

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

Shadow of Mordor is an action role-playing game set in J.R.R. Tolkien’s world of The Lord of The Rings. You play as Talion, a ranger who has wraith-like abilities, whose main quest is to avenge his family and take down Sauron and his army of orcs.

The game’s website can be found at https://www.shadowofmordor.com/ and its gameplay trailer can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpRXiyIvvX4.

My Experience

One of the first things I do when I play Shadow of Mordor is to open the map and look for indications of Intel. To kill an orc warchief easily, I have to kill his bodyguards. To kill his bodyguards, I have to aim for specific orcs which when interrogated, will give me information on a specific orc’s strengths and weaknesses. As I set my targets in my mind, I find that this ties in with the Lens of Goals, where a good variety of short and long term goals keeps me always in reach of the next objective. Short term goals such as gathering Intel are achievable and rewarding as it makes the final objective of killing a warchief much easier.

The Lens of Meaningful Choices also applies heavily in my mission to kill orc captains and warchiefs. I am constantly caught having to make choices that will affect outcomes in the game. Should I kill the orc now or brand it so that it can follow my commands? Killed orcs give only a moment of peace as they are quickly replaced, while branding an orc allows me to control his actions but give me some kind of responsibility to make sure he does not get himself killed by other orcs. Similarly, when I’m trying to intercept a duel between two orcs, I have to choose if I should kill both orcs when they are weakened, kill the one left standing as well as determine the correct timing to step in. Each action I take affects the outcome and determines if I will have an advantage in the future, which makes each decision more meaningful.

I find that I am emotionally invested in the orcs that I fight throughout the game. Every time I encounter that orc that has killed me the previous five times, I feel frustrated in having to face him and his degrading insults again. On the other hand, when I have successfully killed orc after orc, I become feared amongst the orcs and gain a reputation as being the toughest being to beat. Orcs that I have killed even sport the scars I have given them, tying in Aesthetics and Story in the Elemental Tetrad. While these actions do not contribute directly to the main story, the unique interactions between each orc make the world of Shadow of Mordor that much more immersive. Following the Lens of the Story Machine, different interactions with different orcs will generate different reactions from them. This essentially allows players to craft their own experiences and mini-stories.

Friend’s Experience

My friend frequently enters the section on Sauron’s army, which shows the hierarchy and relations between the orc captains and warchiefs, as well as each identified orc’s strengths and weaknesses. The Lens of Problem Solving contributes to this reaction, as my friend has to constantly find a way to bring down the more powerful orcs by analyzing them in Sauron’s army. Each orc has his own unique set of strengths, such as invulnerability to stealth or the ability to poison the player, which acts as a problem my friend has to overcome. Furthermore, taking down the wrong orc at the wrong time may create problems in the future, which leads my friend to constantly check each orc’s relationship to his leader, if any.

Unlike Sauron’s Army, the Upgrades section was rarely accessed by my friend. Experience points were also disregarded throughout the game. He found that even with low upgrades to his character, timing and dodging attacks are still easy due to his own skills and prior experience to similar types of games. As long as my friend is able to counter an attack at the right timing, getting killed is very difficult. The Lens of Skill does not seem to be effectively used in this case due to the following:

• Due to the familiarity with the combat system, some players will fare much better than others, which may make the game unfair.
• The level of skill required may be too low for seasoned players, making the game not as fun as it could be.

In this case, the game Mechanics on the player’s end in the Elemental Tetrad may need to further refined to ensure a better utilization of the Lens of Skill.

One of the main mission’s objectives is to mind control all five orc warchiefs. While the act of brainwashing them is the same (lower their health then brand them), my friend went through a different path to approach each orc:

• Directly confront the warchief and brand him.
• Brand the warchief’s bodyguard then kill the warchief. The brainwashed bodyguard fills in the now vacant position as warchief.
• Command one of his mind controlled warchiefs to pick a fight with another rogue warchief, wait for his health to dwindle, then brand him.

The application of the Lens of Freedom allows the freedom to choose how he executes his actions to achieve his objectives.

Comparison Analysis

Even though my friend and I have played the same game, we have each gained our own set of unique experiences. This may be because different lenses appeal to each of us, thus we gain a richer experience from one lens as compared to the other. My friend may find that the Lens of Skill has been under-utilized, but others may feel that the skills required to play Shadow of Mordor are just right.

Lenses are also commonly interrelated and a combination of them can apply to each aspect of the game. For the act of killing an orc, multiple lenses are considered:

• Lens of Goals: to set the goal of killing the orc
• Lens of Freedom: to explore different ways in luring and killing the orc
• Lens of Problem Solving: to plan the best way to kill the orc
• Lens of Meaningful Choices: to decide on the plan of action
• Lens of Skill: to execute the plan and attempt to kill the orc
• Lens of the Story Machine: the after effects of the attempt

The variety of ways that lenses come together adds to the experience of the game. Although some lenses may not be used effectively, the game can still be fun as long as there are sufficient lenses that are able to enhance each other. The same can be said for the elements in the Elemental Tetrad. The Technology used in making Shadow of Mordor is not revolutionary, nor is the main Story particularly creative. However, as each element comes together, they help to shape the game and turn it into something unique and fun.

Description

A surreal survival and an adventure game with a randomly generated open-world map. The objective is to survive as long as possible while weathering obstacles that the game throws at you.

Website

http://www.dontstarvegame.com/

Video

Personal Analysis

The Lens of Curiosity

Don’t Starve throws me into a surreal world full of dangers and surprises to survive in. No tutorials, no guides, no hints, leaving myself to answer my own questions. As I mindlessly click around in this unknown world, it is satisfying to learn every bit of survival knowledge including danger zones, hostile enemies, crafting recipes and an item’s use. My clicks became more purposeful after that. However, this also leads to more questions as I explore further unknown territories and face obstacles such as seasonal changes. To me, this repeated satisfaction of discovery forms the core experience when playing the game.

The Lens of the Weirdest Thing

The art style of Don’t Starve is telling of its quirky and eccentric nature. Many weird things accompany weird mechanics in the world of Don’t Starve. Understanding and utilising these oddities provide immense gratification as I have never experienced them before. Hence, it is always exciting to encounter these weird things in the game, and despite dying multiple times because of them, I still approach them at first sight. As Don’t Starve gave me the impression of being a weird game, these weird moments seem normal and coherent within my expectations of the game.

The Lens of Punishment

The punishment system in Don’t Starve can be frustrating and brutal. I feel frustrated whenever I die as my progress is completely reset with a new world and new conditions to adapt to. At first, this punishment seems unfair given that there were no tutorials or any guidance offered by the game. However, I later realised that this punishment system highlights the importance of survival and heightens the fear of death, which truly adds to the survival experience in Don’t Starve.

 The Lens of Visible Progress

One of the most rewarding experiences in Don’t Starve is watching my base grow larger as I craft more equipment and buildings in my base. The base that I build is larger and more impressive each time I improve. This visual indicator of progress gives me a sense of accomplishment whenever I return back to base after a day’s hard work out in the world of Don’t Starve.

Elemental Tetrad Analysis

The mechanics of Don’t Starve aligns well with the game’s intention to stimulate my curiosity and encourage discovery. As you get better at surviving, the game will introduce new dangers to challenge your ability to adapt. Don’t Starve is hence well-balanced in the aspect of empowering and challenging the player. The game’s art direction, music and sound also complement the world of Don’t Starve. The quirky yet catchy background music changes to suit the theme and current state of the game. Every sound that the game produces, such as chewing sounds as I eat, contribute to the immersive yet unusual survival experience in Don’t Starve. The story of Don’t Starve also does a good job of telling me about my current plight while letting me discover the rest (as seen in game description), exactly like the game mechanics. The game’s use of a simple pseudo-3D world also promotes the game’s simplicity while maintaining the crucial art style for in-game assets.

Friend’s Analysis

The Lens of Curiosity

Like me, my friend also asked many questions when he played the game for the first time. Initially, he was amused by little interactions with the creatures such as being chased by an angry bee. He derived more satisfaction from these actions and interactions rather than his ability to survive. As time pass, his amusement from these interactions declined while he began to grow more frustrated with dying, since he had not invested in the survival aspect of the game. His curiosity is mainly targeted towards the combat system in Don’t Starve.

The Lens of Punishment

The punishment system in Don’t Starve was a total turn-off to my friend. He is irritated whenever he dies for unknown reasons, which is understandable given Don’t Starve’s harsh punishment system and lack of guidance. To make matters worse, he never bothered to find out the reasons for his deaths. As a result, he dies repeatedly for the same reasons, and it adds to his frustration.

The Lens of Fun

My friend clearly had minimal fun at the end of his Don’t Starve game session. His drop in excitement level shows through his increasingly dreary mouse movements and lack of expression. He only finds fun in the action aspect of Don’t Starve fight or flight combat system. During combat, my friend seem to be more focused and excited compared to exploration and base-building. Since he was not very interested in the aspect of survival, a huge part of Don’t Starve was not enjoyable to him.

The Lens of Visible Progress

This lens is lacking in my friend’s playthrough. His progress was minimal hence he had only a few buildings in his base. As a result, the satisfaction and feeling of accomplishment derived from this lens did not apply to him. Consequently, the lack of a progression indicator despite killing many creatures made him feel that his investment in the game was not rewarded. Eventually, he got bored of the game and refused to play it further.

Comparison Analysis

The Lens of Curiosity

This is perhaps one of the more crucial lens that Don’t Starve is based on. Both my friend and I had had many questions at the start which drive us to play the game. However, the type of questions we asked differed. I had wanted to find out how I could survive longer, whereas my friend had wanted more action from the game. As the main focus of Don’t Starve is survival, I am able to derive more satisfaction from the game compared to him since the game does not offer much in the action department. What we expect from the game and what the game provides in response to these expectations determine how much the game is “fun” to us. Therefore, it is important to know the type of game you are creating and the questions it answers towards your target audience.

The Lens of Punishment

It is tricky to balance between player punishment and reward. Don’t Starve’s punishment system motivates players such as myself that appreciate its difficulty and its unique rewards. However, for players such as my friend who want an easy and straightforward game, Don’t Starve can come across as an unforgiving and frustrating game. It is hence crucial to provide multiple levels of difficulty in order to cater to players who seek various levels of challenge.

The Lens of the Weirdest Thing

Making a game unique has a possible drawback of making it strange and off-putting. Being able to provide a different but relatable experience is the crux to creating a unique game. Although I find the game strange, I find the mechanics behind them interesting and not at all overwhelming. However, my friend did not appreciate Don’t Starve’s weirdness as much as I did, and I believe that this translates to lesser satisfaction on his part. Making a game special in its own way is important for it to stand out, but one has to ensure that the mechanics are still reasonable and not “out of this world” bizarre.

The Lens of Visible Progress

Being able to visually gauge one’s progression is tantamount for a player who invests long hours in a game. I felt rewarded when I saw my base develop in Don’t Starve, but my friend did not experience this satisfaction as he did not focus on his base’s improvement. Needless to say, he felt that his progression was stagnant and this made him lose interest in the game more quickly. Therefore it is important to give players some knowledge of progression in games to maintain and secure their interest. Such progress indicators also provide players with the feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction.

Bioshock Infinite

Game Website: http://www.bioshockinfinite.com/?RET=&ag=true
Game Demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snDNJdmSSHcShort

Description: The game happens in the virtual city ‘Columbia’ in 1912. The player is a disgraced agent named Booker Dewitt who is given the job to rescue a woman called Elizabeth who is trapped in the city.

1. The Lens of Fun

What Parts of the game are fun?
It feels great to finish the missions, especially when Elizabeth is successfully rescued. It is also fun to use the fancy equipments and weapons, such as the magic potion that enables player to throw fire arrow. Besides, the highly artistic game environment makes it even more pleasant to play.
What Parts need to be more fun?
The part when the player needs to search for the clues to achieve the current goal is a little dull and tedious. Sometimes the player needs to spend much time searching through the whole city. And it would be much better if there are more objects that the player could interact with, except for the money and food.

2. The Lens of Curiosity

What questions does the game put into the player’s mind?
The game keeps the player think how to achieve the goal, how to go to certain places and eventually save the girl. Along the way, the game also requires the player to keep themselves equipped with weapons and food while maintaining a good health. Therefore another question that players may constantly bear in mind is ‘where to find more weapons and health kit?’
How does the game make them care about these questions?
The game system constantly reminds the player of the current goal and provides certain feedbacks to direct the player to the right track. There are also some delicate hints that make the player wonder what is awaiting them in future.

3. The Lens of Surprise

What will surprise players when they play the game?
After each mission there would be a new piece of land unlocked which will always give the player surprises when they begin exploring it. May it be a mysterious stranger that gives hints and suggestions, or a new powerful potion hidden somewhere in a deserted room, or unexpectedly strong enemies, there would always be something unknown as the game proceeds.
Do players have ways to surprise each other?
Players could surprise each other too. For example, the player could give orders to Elizabeth after she is rescued, but the way she carries out the order can be different each time. It is also a delightful surprise to discover the special abilities of Elizabeth.

4. The Lens of Virtual Interface

What information does the play need that isn’t obvious just by looking at the game world?
The player needs to know where to look for weapon, food and medicine. Sometimes the objects are hidden in a place that is not easy to find. It can also be tricky to figure out how to go to a destination requested by the game. The user may also switch between different windows to check their game progress, their health status and etc.

When does the player need this information?
The play needs it most when she or he is facing problems defeating the enemies or deciding the next step to finish the mission.

5. The Lens of Essential Experience

What do I want the player to experience?
The game aims to provide the gamers with a thrilling feeling of being a hero and fight against the evil. It has achieved this goal by providing detailed and artistic scenes and well-planed plots.