Rust is an Early Access massive multiplayer survival game created by Facepunch Studios. Rust was inspired by games like DayZ, Minecraft and Stalker. In Rust, players can determine how they would like to play using the game’s building tools to attempt surviving through harsh open world environment conditions, such as attacks from wildlife, radiation, starvation, temperatures as well as other players.

Website: https://playrust.com/

Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1spGt2Mhzy8

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Technology:

• Rust uses procedural map generation to create a unique map for each server.
• It was developed using Unity 5 game engine.

Mechanics:

Some of the mechanics present in Rust include:

• Ballistic trajectory for its projectiles (arrows and bullets) to simulate a more realistic game physics
• Hit tracking mechanism which means shots to different parts of the body deal different damages
• An extensive crafting system
• In-game voice chat for useful/critical in-game communication

The game mechanics in Rust are not uncommon in any Open World survival games, seeing how it had been compared to as a mix between Arma 2’s Day-Z mod and Minecraft. However, the way Facepunch Studios incorporated them – features that are missing in either Day-Z or Minecraft – made it a game with immense potential.

Story:

There is no story to this game. The developers created the game on the idea that the player shall decide how he or she wants survive the harsh elements within the game as well as how they would like to play the game, be it fighting against others or making allies and helping each other survive. Like what the developers said: “We provide the tools. How players survive is up to them.”

Aesthetics:

Rust’s graphics have significantly improve over recent years since it was first released as an early access game. This was partly due to the development team porting over to the Unity 5 game engine. Structures, foliage and the environment are nicely modelled and built, while wildlife like bears and wolves are nicely implemented. Audio is also properly developed for example, a user can accurately identify the direction an attack helicopter is coming from, as well as footsteps and movement nearby. However, bugs are still present within the game thus negatively affecting players’ game experience at times.

Lens of Time:

Rust uses a Day and night cycle – roughly 50 minutes of daylight and 10 minutes of night – to bring about a sense of time for players in-game. During daylight, visibility is not impaired allowing players to view their surroundings clearly. Hence, it is the best time for players roam about freely and explore. However, when night arrives, visibility is almost zero. It turns pitch black very quickly, even the moonlight is insufficient for illuminating the terrain. The player’s only option will be to use a torch or other craft-able light source, which could potentially be more harmful as he or she becomes an obvious target for other players and/or attack helicopter. The use of time cycle adds an element of strategic play to the game as players would have to plan for each activity, keep in check the time spent as well as considering their ability to respond to danger.

Lens of Expected Value:

Clockwise From Top-Left : Destructible Barrels, Airdrop, Weapon and Medic Crates, Attack Helicopter

Rust does incorporate the element of chance within their game. Some more notable events are:

• Airdrops, an important element in Rust which happens randomly at random locations around the map, that may contain valuable supplies. Airdrops are delivered via a propeller plane, and can be seen coming in from extremely long distances, this results in players sometimes running towards the airdrop and competing for it.
• Interactive objects such as destructible barrels, medical supply crate and weapons crate are scattered across maps usually at fixed locations near landmark sites, and each of these objects provides players with the chance of obtaining certain resources or items ranging from either common to rare.
• Attack helicopters, another important element to Rust, they are randomly spawned between a certain time interval (24-48 of in-game hours), are NPC-controlled and are rather hard to defeat. The attack helicopters will patrol iconic landmarks in the map called monuments and will fire at players if they are spotted (only on certain conditions). Defeating a helicopter will cause it to drop extremely rare loots but there is a cooldown before players can access the crash sites. This invites challenges from other players who are keen to attempt stealing the loot.

Lens of Competition vs Cooperation:

The most important goal in Rust is to survive, not only from the environment but more importantly other players. As mentioned above, players ultimately have to compete for resources and items. However, the open and free playing concept of Rust also enables cooperation between players. One good example is the option for players to form “clans” in the game. Clans creates an in-game faction where players belonging to the same faction help each other with housing, provision of items and supplies, partaking in organized raiding of other players and looting. The feature of clans creates a balance for competition and cooperation, as it helps to make the game more enjoyable by giving new players a lifeline to work with others, rather than always getting killed by more established and advanced players a few moments into the game.

Lens of Imagination:

Building is an essential tool for survival in games, and this is also likewise a prevalent concept in Rust. Like Minecraft, albeit with a more extensive building system, players can use their imagination and build homes or structures in the game for different purposes. This freedom allows players to be creative and tactical with building a base for survival, which is evident from the numerous video tutorials and guides to building different structures increasingly found on sites like YouTube and Rust’s community pages.

Description:

Age of Wonders is a turn-based strategy game with some RPG elements, co-developed by Triumph Studios and Epic Games. It was released in October 31, 1999 and the first game in the Age of Wonders series.

Website Link: http://triumph.net/ageofwonders

Trailer video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P–zaTS2iuA

Gameplay Video: https://youtu.be/JlG5xEvo-_4?t=24m41s

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Mechanics

• Controls are simple and straightforward as only the use of mouse is required.
• Despite having simple controls, the game itself is quite complex.
• Gameplay revolves around turn-based strategy with an isometric view of the map over hexagonal tiles.
• Strategy Element
  • Fog of war, which is pretty common in strategy games, prompts the user to venture out into the unknown to explore.
  • Tactical combat challenges players to outwit other players in command of units.
• RPG Element
  • In-depth hero customization wide variety of special abilities to choose from, multitude of spells to research and arsenal of equipment to find.

 Story

• Setting: Medieval fantasy world with magic and a diversity of races
• Conflict: Humans killed the Elven King Inioch and conquer the Elven Court, claiming The Valley of Wonders. The remaining elves split into 2 factions: The Keeper, led by Elven Princess Julia and The Cult of Storms led by Elven Prince Meandor.
• Campaign: Join and aid one of these 2 factions in reclaiming The Valley of Wonders.
• Branching story based on different paths taken throughout the campaign. Final stage of the campaign is the same map for all paths, however objectives and alliance are different based on path taken.

Aesthetics

• Graphic
  • Detailed environmental tiles depicting different terrains such as snow, forest, desert, cave and etc.
  • Hero portraits consists of multiple version for each races.
  • Beautiful sprites depicting elemental attributes.
• Audio
  • Compelling and engaging soundtracks.
  • Different sound effects for spells to indicate its elemental attribute. (i.e. lightning)

Technology

• Game is built to run on Windows platform.
• Not much is known about the game engine as they used an in-house game engine.
• Has a map editor available for developing custom level. This is a great feature as it encourages player made custom levels.
• Multiplayer supports through LAN, over internet or by Email.

Lenses

Lens #27: The Lens of Skill

• Requires players to take advantage of their terrain, racial bonuses, alignments and etc.
• Balance between economy, expanding troops and exploration of map.
• Tactical combat has a high demand of skill. Even in a disadvantageous battle against larger amount of higher tier troops, with tactful play, a player maybe able to turn the tides.

Lens #29: The Lens of Chance

• Chance is an important aspect in this game as it makes the outcome of battles unpredictable.
• A prime example how chance plays a big role in this game is stats.
  • Attack determines chance of landing a hit.
  • Defence determines chance of dodging an attack.
• A hero with max stats losing a melee fight against another hero with lower stats based on chance. (Hero with max attack stats misses all his hit, and failed to dodge any attack despite having max defence stats as well)

Lens #38: The Lens of Competition vs. Cooperation

• This is very applicable in multiplayer game, especially in non-allied victory. (Only 1 winner)
• Players have to compete for resources, cities and artifacts. (equipment)
• Despite being a game of competitive nature, it also prompts player cooperation with diplomatic feature in place.
• Weaker players can form temporary alliance to join forces in attacking stronger players.

Lens #46: The Lens of Economy

• There are 2 main resources in this game, gold and mana.
• Gold is mainly used for upgrading cities and maintaining upkeep of troops.
• Mana is used for spell research and spell casting.
• Choices of spending resources wisely is important.

Lens #75: The Lens of the Avatar

• Player’s main hero is his/her avatar in this game and they are given free rein in customizing their hero.
• Max level of hero is 20, therefore there is a limited amount of abilities and stats the hero can have.
• Examples:
  • Combat oriented hero with max stats and multiple melee elemental strikes.
  • Magic oriented hero with more spell casting points.

Gampeplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J64Gn60y1o4&index=1&list=PLebpytFvkBzvMlypgiChn9bUthdFXcQwf&t=473s (Uses the PC port that was released in 2005)

Description

The Halo series is one of the flagship titles of the Xbox and this was its very first game, released in 2001. There have been 5 games in the main series to date, along with several spin-offs and remakes. This is about the original game that was released in 2001 and not the 2011 Anniversary version, which comes with additional features and improved graphics.

The game opens in medias res. You are in the middle of a war between humans of the future and more technologically advanced aliens. From the very beginning, the situation is already bleak. As a super soldier, you are tasked with an important duty of not dying or being captured and explore the strange structure that you have found yourselves stranded on, the titular ring world of Halo.

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Aesthetics

Due to the game being released in 2001, the graphics cannot compare to today’s ones. Even the anniversary version, which had updated graphics, is still very underwhelming compared to the newest game Halo sequel. However, the reason why I chose the older version despite the fact that there was a newer updated rerelease was because for all intents and purposes, the aesthetics served their purpose well. Humans are very identifiably humans and the aliens even more so. There is a very clear distinction between them and throughout the game, it is always evident that humans are on your side and everything else isn’t.

The music, even today, is still top notch. The title screen, the first thing you see when you boot up the game, already sets the mood. You are treated to a spanning view of the titular ring world and given ominous music that hints that the world has many mysteries that are not all good. The title sets the tone that this will be a dark and serious game. Then in the very game itself, the music sets the lows and highs of the game very well. When you are hiding in the shadows, shying away from the overwhelming numbers of the enemy or from the zombies known as the Flood (shown on the right), the music is creepy and scary. I remember as a child that while at first I was afraid of the aliens known as the Covenant, they could not at all compare to the Flood, which are nightmare fuel in their own right that I always attempted to kill as soon as possible. The music was what cemented that experience. Imagine listening to this while being chased by a wave of zombies and desperately shooting everything you have. The only reason why it is not evolve to an outright horror game was because you were still capable of fighting back, which the music also enforces.

Technology

As this game was originally released on the Xbox, it used the capabilities of the Xbox as much as it could. Most buttons were mapped in as intuitive a manner as possible, such as the right trigger being used to fire your weapon. The Xbox controller’s ability to vibrate was used to emphasise a lot of the things happening on screen. The Xbox was also one of the stronger consoles of its time, contesting with the Playstation 1. This was made use of by pushing that to its limit, creating a large and beautiful world that one could explore and discover using 3D graphics.

Mechanics

Halo is a first person shooter game, and thus that makes it straightforward. Find a weapon. Point and shoot. I felt that all of its weapons had their own unique characteristics that none of the other weapons shared. For example, the weapon that the Master Chief, the main character, uses in the cover is called the Assault Rifle, which is very simply a machine gun that one just holds down the button to continually spray bullets until one has to reload. The pistol, on the other hand, serves a very different purpose, capable of zooming in and serving as a good long range weapon as well because of its ability to down most unshielded targets in a single headshot. The alien weapons that use plasma serve well to take down shielded enemies, on the other hand. The plasma pistol in particular is capable of taking down a single target’s shields with a charged shot, something which was taken advantage of as the difficulty increased.

Story

The story is also one of the hooks of Halo. While at first, the player is thrown into a world without any prior information, a lot of the game goes into revealing more about the world, as well as the titular Halo. The all important war between the humans and the aliens known as the Covenant is a mere backdrop to the horrifying Halo and its secrets. The Halo was built by an even more advanced race than the Covenant known as the Forerunners, who had one day suddenly disappeared from the universe. All that was left was their technology and their AI, of which most notable in this game was 343 Guilty Spark, otherwise known as the Monitor of Halo.

The Lens of the Character Web

The main character in this game is the Master Chief, the armoured superhuman who we are never able to see the face of in-game. He is stronger than all the other humans and essentially the most important human in the series. The player gets to play as him, living a legend as he single-handedly brings victory to the human race.

However, this game does not focus on just this. The characters around the Master Chief never outright tell the Master Chief that ‘You are the most important person here’. Actually, the Captain of the ship is the most important in story. But the player gets the feeling because every time the Master Chief appears on scene, the characters react immediately to him. The humans thank him profusely for appearing and helping them out of a pinch, rallying behind him without hesitation. The Covenant fear him and the smaller mooks cry out in dread when faced against him. Some even run away the moment the strongest aliens in their squad (aptly named Elites by the humans) get defeated. There is also Cortana, the AI who accompanies you for much of the game, giving off snarky commentary when she can, lampshading and highlighting many of the aspects of the game and providing a nice contrast to the mostly silent Master Chief.

The interactions of the character around him is what solidifies the Master Chief, and by extension the player, as a person of importance and makes the player feel good playing as him.

The Lens of Pleasure

The goal of a first person shooter is simple. Give the player an ability to shoot things and kill them in a satisfactory manner. In that way, I believe Halo has succeeded tremendously. As mentioned before, its many different weapons provide different ways to kill enemies. But that is not the only thing it has. It also provides a satisfying way to kill enemies through a melee attack to the back if the enemy is unaware of the player. Then there is also sending an enemy off the cliff and letting them fall to their death. Of course, there is the way of sticking a sticky Plasma Grenade onto an enemy and watching it struggle to get it off before exploding in a satisfying explosion of blue plasma. Then, there is simply driving over an enemy with a vehicle of choice. I believe Halo has brought much variety to the different ways to kill enemies, which entertains the player sufficiently until the very end.

The Lens of Skill

As my first game on the Xbox and technically my first video game ever, I can safely say that I possessed no prior ability with first person shooters. Halo was well made in that it rewards players for being skilled while still having a low learning curve. If you don’t know what to do, you are provided a default weapon capable of just holding down the trigger to pepper your enemies with a constant rain of bullets. However, as you grow more skilled, the default sidearm, the pistol, gives you the ability to one-shot most enemies with a headshot. The ability to melee attack is also well implemented, due to its ability to interrupt any action you are currently performing to perform a melee attack, thus allowing you to constantly be doing something and not be stuck in a reload animation while facing down an enemy. Skilled players who are able to get behind enemies are also rewarded by being able to melee attack them and thus kill in a single attack. The grenades also provide skilled players with the ability to put a well placed grenade to take out most enemies. The plasma grenade has the capability to ‘stick’ onto enemies, which means that a well placed plasma grenade ensures that enemy’s death. There is not much randomness in this game except for shot deviation, thus allowing players to improve their skill very easily.

The Lens of Curiosity

Halo has a large map for its time, and curiosity for exploring the map is rewarded a lot of the time. Sometimes, it is merely a hidden Medpack (which restores health) or an Overshield (which gives one more layer of shielding). However, at other times it is a stronger weapon or an easter egg.

This lens is expanded even further in the sequels, as more easter eggs (including the soon well-known Skulls) were added.

Conclusion

I think that Halo was a great game and a game of my childhood, which was why I chose it.

Official Website: https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/journey-ps4/

Trailer Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU3nNT4rcFg
Game Play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8LzZj51ef4

Description:

In journey, players will play as a traveler with red robe and a black mask in the desert at first. The only determination is the mountain which is far away. We do not have any weapons during this journey, instead we only have a red scarf which will support us the ability of flying. As we collect more red cloth during the journey, the ability of flying will be enhanced. As we walk towards the high mountain, we will go through remnants of a once-thriving civilization. As we complete one chapter, we will find the stones where the forerunners rest and watch a fresco to know about the development of this civilization. During this journey, we will experience exploration, cooperation, dangers and even death. At last, when the travelers arrive at the top of the mountain, he will becomes a white meteor to the starting desert and start a new journey.

Elemental Tetrad:

1. Aesthetics:

Desert

Journey is really a beautiful game! During the journey to the top of mountains, we can enjoy the beautiful 3D scenes of desert, remnants, towers and snow mountains. It has really nice shadow and light effects and the scenes are all magnificent. The whole journey is filled with grace and Buddhist mood. There is no violence and competition in this game, instead there are understanding and supporting between players. Also, the music is perfect to show the beauty of the scenes. There is no dialogue in this game, but it is enough for players to feel the emotions through the music. In a nutshell, this game is full of the beauty of humanity and Buddhist mood.

2. Story:

Journey only has a simple story, that walking through deserts, remnants, towers, and snow mountains to the top of the mountain. There is no dialogue during the Journey, so that the meaning of the journey needed to be thought by the player self. The whole story is silent and harmonious. There will be a partner selected by the system which is acted by another real player during the journey. Players need to help and support each other until the end of the journey, but players will never know who the partner is because the random selection. It is just a fantastic meeting and journey and give different players different experience.

3. Mechanics:

In Journey, player only can walk, run, jump and fly for a while. Players can use these ability to go through the scenes, collect red cloth to enhance the flying ability and open gears. Players cannot communicate with another player, and they can only make a strange sound with a special symbol. They are not allowed to hurt each other, and can only help each other to solve the problem as well as complete the journey.

4. Technology:

This game is only available on PS4 and PS3 and has a high-quality game screen. It support most 2 players during one journey with internet connection.

Lens of Emotion:

At the start of this game, there is only yourself standing at a hill in the desert. It makes players feel alone as a lonely traveler. During flying through the remnants in the desert, it makes players feel excited when watching the large and beautiful scene of the desert. When the traveler is going to die in the cold snow mountain, players will feel sad for the death of the traveler. As the traveler is revived by the god and sees the nice scenes of the top of the mountains, players will feel pleased. The experience of the traveler and the well-timed music will lead the emotion of players.

The Top of The Mountain

Lens of Essential Experiences:

Journey is like an experience of life journey. At first, you are alone to walk towards your aims. During the journey, you will meet some partners to help you but you may not know their name. Also, you will meet dangers in the remnant and see beauty after overcome the dangers. You may almost die in the cold snow and be revived by strong spirit support. As you arrive at the final aim, you will be sent to the start of the journey and restart a new one as well as a new samsara. It is really like the journey of our life, but it is more harmonious and Buddhist mood to give us a really new experiences. It is from life experiences but higher than it with more fantasy.

Lens of Problem Solving:

There are not very hard problems in Journey. Most of the problem is open some gears to collect some red cloth, stones or release some fishes. Also, there are some problems like hiding from the enemies. These problems are not hard so that no mater you are a new player or old player, you can solve them easily. However, if you would like to collect all the items and achievements, you need to cooperate with your partner to jump higher or fly farther to open some special gears.

Lens of Beauty:

The beauty of Journey is not only from its scene and music, but also from its artistic conception. It is called a work of art by many game evaluation organization. It make player go far away from cities or noisy and feel the beauty of traveling and nature. It do not have any violence or competition, and it only makes players to think and enough the emotion. That the beauty of this game, peace, harmony and Buddhist mood.

Short description:

Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments is a single player adventure mystery video game where the player will control mainly Sherlock Holmes,along with other characters to solve six complicated cases. Players will explore and gather clues from different locations and make deductions. Interactive and interesting illustrations and puzzles were also provided for each case to guide the players to figure out the culprit. At the end of each case, the player would get to make a moral choice to either absolve or condemn the culprits which will led to different endings.

Website: http://store.steampowered.com/app/241260/

Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXXHbbpHCJI

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Aesthetics:

• I like the overall look of the game as the characters are detailed and realistic. Players can easily identify the character’s thoughts and mood through the expressive facial animations and the tone of the voice over.
• The setting of the game is in 19th century London which matches with the original Sherlock Holmes stories. This helps players to relate to the characters and be immersed in the familiar setting.
• Text are provided at the bottom to help players understand what the character is saying. The other purpose of the text is to show the character’s thoughts while making deductions. 
• The aesthetic for the ‘deduction board’ is similar to neurons in the brain and they connect with one another when there is an idea. This is a good illustration showing what happens when a person is thinking and connecting ideas.

Deduction Board

Technology:

• The game is available for Windows, PlayStation 3 and 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One, making it convenient for several types of players.
• This game is developed on Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3.

Mechanics:

• An interesting mechanic of this game is the ‘Sherlock Vision’. This vision helps the player to obtain important clues that may not seem as obvious and allows players to watch how events happened in the correct sequence. This makes the game more interesting and different from the usual point and click adventure games.

Scanning other characters for information

• There is a special camera view whenever Sherlock Holmes interact with other characters. The view allows the players stand in Sherlock’s point of view as Sherlock observes other characters to gather more information. These clues are also useful in telling whether the characters are telling the truth.   
• Other than finding and examining clues, there are several puzzles throughout the cases that the player must solve to obtain the clues. While some puzzles are repetitive such as unlocking a lock, there are many interesting puzzles that vary for each case.  

Deduction Board

• After players gathered enough clues, they would go to the ‘deduction board’ to link pieces of information together and make deductions. Some deductions would require the player to make a decision based on their judgment and interpretation. These deductions would lead to different endings. 
• At the end of each case, the player gets to make a decision to either condemn or absolve the culprit. Following that, the game would show what happens based on the player’s decision. There would also be a ‘case statistics’ shown to the player to show the percentage of the players that made the same decision. 

Story:

• There are a total of six separate cases and some are adaptations from Arthur Conan Doyle’s original stories. The plot for the cases are rather complicated and intriguing which makes it fun for the players as they attempt to solve the cases. Furthermore, it is difficult to guess the culprit in at first glance and this motivates players to continue playing and gather more clues.   
• There are a number of different endings for each case depending on the player’s decision. I enjoy seeing the alternative endings as it is interesting how different decisions lead to different fates for the characters. Also, the good thing about the game is that players do not need to replay the whole case to see alternative endings.

Lens #4: Lens of Curiosity

• As the cases mostly start off with the crime, it invokes the player’s curiosity as there are many unanswered questions and several suspects. Players would want to know howh the crimes are committed and the motives behind it. 
• Players will also be interested to find out how the different clues gathered are connected with one another. This helps them to see the full picture and understand the case.
• The game reveals pieces of information and new locations one at a time throughout the investigation, this keeps the players excited and motivate them to continue playing. 

Chemistry Puzzle

Lens #31: Lens of Challenge

• There are many different types of puzzle that the players need to solve to proceed. Some of these puzzles are quite challenging as it requires players to think and see the pattern. There are subtle hints near the puzzles that can help the players. 
• There were some challenges at the ‘deduction board’ as some deductions require the player to choose one option out of the two. Players may not know which one to choose based on the information they gathered so far. Moreover, new evidence may appear and challenge their current views. 
• When exploring the crime scenes to obtain clues, some may feel that it is not challenging enough as the game would indicate to the player which are the important items. However, I feel that this feature is important as it makes sure that players would not miss out any evidence. Without this feature, players may be confuse and unable to search all the clues required. 

Making the moral choice

Lens #32: Lens of Meaningful Choices

• Players need to make a moral choice to either condemn or absolve the culprit at the end of each case. I find this meaningful as it depends on the player’s values and thoughts to make the decision. For certain cases whereby the culprit did the crime due to self-defense or with valid reasons, I feel that the culprit should be given another chance. But others may not feel this way since the culprits did commit a crime. There are no wrong choices but it is interesting to see what happens in the different endings. 
• As there are several suspects for each case, players are also given the choice to choose whom they think are the culprits. This provides the players an opportunity to look at all the clues gathered and make a logical decision. 
• Players can also choose how they want to dress up the characters to ensure that they are in the right disguise and suitable for the situation.  

Lens #5: Lens of Endogenous Value

• Clues and items gained from each crime scenes are essential to solve the crime.
• Some items could be used to unlock puzzles or new clues, allowing the players to move on with the game.
• Interactions with the eye witnesses and victims have a meaningful value as it helps the players to better understand the type of person the suspects are or gain information about the flow of events.

Lens #25: Lens of Goals

• It is clear to the players that the ultimate goal of the game is to find the culprit for each case. The objectives for the cases would also be in the ‘case book’ for the players to know. 
• During each case, there are several objectives that the players need to complete in order to proceed with the game. Some minor goals include unlocking a lock in order to obtain an evidence or gain access to another location. There are also many mini puzzle games that the players need to solve to gain crucial information. These puzzles are often associated with the context and characters of the case.

Mini Puzzle Game

Description

Don’t Starve Together is the standalone multiplayer expansion of the uncompromising wilderness survival game, Don’t Starve. It is a survival game full of science and magic created by KLEI Entertainment. In this expansion, players are required to work together in order to survive by gathering resources. There are multiple characters available and it is possible for players to choose the same character. Each character has their own traits, giving the players a different experience for each character they have chosen. There is no limit to how long the players can survive, thus the players are able to keep on playing forever, provided they have the capabilities to survive that long.

Game website: https://www.kleientertainment.com/games/dont-starve-together

Game trailer video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVbyn7c1X6E

Lens of Elemental Tetrad

Mechanics

The objective of this game is to survive. There are 3 core stats a player must maintain, namely Hunger, Health and Sanity. These stats change accordingly to the environment, which include seasonal changes, and the players’ actions. In order to maintain these stats, players are required to search for resources which are scattered around the entire world map. Using these resources, players are able to get food, build structures, farming and even making weapons for combat.

Aesthetics

Don’t Starve Together generally has a decolourized graphics. The game is generally dark, making players feel more connected to the game in terms of survival. In addition to the colours, the music and sound of the game changes as the day and location changes. As a result, it is easier for me to feel immersed into the game. For me, I personally really like when the characters’ expressions change along with the day, actions or even the environment changes. By looking at these characters’ expressions and actions, it makes me feel as if I am inside the game itself.

Technology

Don’t Starve Together is available on the PC, unlike Don’t Starve which is available on mobile as well. The game looks as if it is 2D, but it is considered more as a 2.5D game – everything in the game is aligned on a plane (2D), but rendered as 3D. It is relatively easy to control the character in the game. It is just simply either WASD and Space bar to walk and action, or just by mouse left and right click, making the game easy to play with just one hand.

Story

There is no storyline to Don’t Starve Together, as it is just players coming together and trying to survive and fight off monsters. The game begins with the players all spawning at the same area, and everyone goes out to find resources and help one another to survive the entire game. It is easier for these type of survival games to not have a storyline, as everyone will be on the same page all the time.

Lens of Problem Solving

This game has different seasons, and there is a boss that appears at different seasons. Some bosses are more aggressive; thus, they will run to the players and attack them. However, there are actually ways to get rid of these bosses – either by engaging a fight with them, bring them to fight other monsters or even bringing them to far away that is not near the players’ bases. For example, during the winter season, a boss named Deerclops will definitely appear. If we do not properly resolve the problem of Deerclops, it will kill all the players and destroy our base. There are also other problems of maintaining hunger, health and sanity, whereby planning and gathering of resources is required.

Lens of Challenge

The first challenge players face is the beginning of the game. Players are being thrown straight into the game without any guide or help to make the players’ life easier. Instead, players are expected to play without any help and they are required to trial and error during the start of the game if they are playing by themselves. This learning process is painful as it can take a long process to learn. When people are just catching how to play the game, they will most likely be on the verge of dying.

Since Don’t Starve Together is an extension of Don’t Starve, the map is bigger and the bosses also have much more health as compared to the ones in Don’t Starve. This makes the challenge of the game more balanced and just right. Since there are more people in the game, the challenge brought by the boss is just right as the bosses now have more health. This is good as if they just maintain the original health, it makes the boss too easy to kill, and there will not be any challenge in playing the game.

Lens of Cooperation

Don’t Starve Together goes well with teamwork and communication. As the map is way larger and there is more people, it is more efficient if the team communicates and let each other know where each individual will be going. Also, through communication, players are able to allocate roles to each other. For instance, some people will be in charge of farming, some in charge of mining or some are even in charge of fighting monsters. It is essential for players to work together to avoid double work being done, and to increase chances of survival.

Lens of Punishment

Don’t Starve Together is harsh on players when they die, and especially when there are no living characters in the game anymore. When all the players that exist in the world are dead, the world will reset and randomly generate a new world. Imagine if the players have played very far into the game, and all their efforts are gone when everyone dies. This can be very depressing to players that have spent a very long time in player that world.

Another punishment in the game that might be a little harsh is the death of the player. When the player dies, all the items and equipment drops at the spot of death, and they need to find means to revive. Once revived, the max amount of health drops – causing the player to have lower health when they start again.

Game: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

Relevant DLC: The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth (Released in 2016), Afterbirth+ (Latest DLC, which was released on 4 Jan 2017)

Blog (upload news and latest issues): http://bindingofisaac.com/

Wiki: http://bindingofisaacrebirth.gamepedia.com/Binding_of_Isaac:_Rebirth_Wiki

Youtube play demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV-w-Zf-mc8                                 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_S2zDEMTG8

Description:

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is a remake of the game: The Binding of Isaac. It is an action RPG shooter game with randomly generated floors, monsters and items. Players will play the roll of Isaac(or other characters) to explore rooms, collect items, fight with monsters and go to deeper floors to beat fearsome bosses. The attributes of the character, as well as the appearance and attacking styles will change when player gets different items, trinkets, pills or cards. When the player has beaten the final boss, the ending of the game will be shown on the screen, to tell you the sad and dark truth of Isaac.

Elemental Tetrad

Mechanics:

The character has its attribute board, where each attributes will be changed by the items player picks up. Player needs to explore rooms to beat monsters, collect items to strength attributes and finally beat the boss of that floor to get into the deeper floor. Players can choose to go to Sheol or Cathedral after the Womb floor. Final boss and ending will base on the player’s choice.

Aesthetic:

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is a 2D pixelated game. Although the storyline is sad and dark, the hand-painted art style makes the game unique and cute. There are 42 monsters and more than 10 bosses with different appearance and movement animations. All the monsters have their own sounds and attacking sound effects. And the background music changes according to floors and rooms. All these designs show the great work and effort put in the game.

Technology:

Players use keyboard to control the character and attacking directions. There are keys to use cards, items, bombs and to show maps and attribute board.

The most important technology in the rebirth is its randomisation mechanism. Each run of the game has a unique seed to generate the whole map, items, pickups and monsters.

The AI of the monsters is also wisely designed to increase the difficulty of playing.

Story:

Apart from the randomisation, the background story is another important element of this game. Rebirth’s story is based on the Biblical tale of the Binding of Isaac. It tells about a young boy named Isaac, to escape from his mom who wants to sacrifice him for God, jumps into the basement (which is the first floor of the game), starts to fight with horrible monsters, using his tears as the weapon.

When analysing this game with its background story, everything will have a deeper meaning and the game itself become more thought-provoking. The level settings of the game, as well as the monsters, for example, angles and demons, are relevant to the story. Besides, all characters in the game are related to Biblical tale as well, such as Magdalene, Cain, Eve, Judas. There are 11 endings and also one hidden character: Lost for players to explore in the Rebirth.

In summary, the story supports the gameplay and make the game more engaging and meaningful.

Lens 1: Essential Experience

The essential experience of a player when playing the game is to grow stronger and to survive when facing all kinds of monsters and boss to reach the last level. Players should consider the effect of the items they collect, the use of money, bombs and keys, and the attacking styles of different monsters to survive the game. The other experience is to unlock achievements by reaching certain milestones, hidden goals or unlocking items. There are hundreds of unlockable achievements designed for users. The achievement system in the game is an effective way to encourage players to play the game.

Lens 2: Surprise & Fun

The charm of The binding of Isaac: Rebirth is its randomisation mechanics, which provides great surprise and fun for players. On each floor, enemies and bosses are randomly generated. Moreover, The game has a huge item pool and all the items player will get in treasure room and boss room in each floor are random. Thus, there are hundreds of, or even more combinations of these items, which will make every single run of the game become totally different as game progresses. That is the reason why many users have hundreds of hours in this game without feeling bored. (Personally, I’ve played this game for 400+ hours and I’m still holding a strong passion on it. :D)

Lens 3: Challenge

It is not easy to win the game. Player is required to get used to the controls and be familiar with hundreds of items and monsters. Furthermore, the difficulty will increase as the game progresses. The deeper the floor is, the more rooms there are and the more difficult to beat the monsters. So it will be hard for new players. Players can select difficulty before starting: normal or hard, which reduces the difficulty to some degree. And for the skilled players, the game is rather enjoyable than challenging. ‘Hard’ mode will have more champion types of monsters and a higher chance of getting cursed on each floor.

Lens 4: Competition

In Rebirth, there is a daily run mode. Everyday the daily run will generate a seed and a role for players to play. Players will be ranked globally according to their final scores. The seed controls the items, rooms and pickups dropped. Players will get penalty of scores when play time increases, getting hurts and collecting items. Killing monsters and getting pickups will increase the score.

Therefore the measurement is fair, as all players will start with exactly the same condition and the only way to get high score is the good skills to reach the goal faster with less damage. Also, as the rank is among global users, higher rank will provide a feeling of achievement and proud. Thus, this kind of competition is meaningful and attractive to players.

Website: (it’s too old, this is for the remake) http://www.zelda.com/ocarina3d/
Gameplay: (full game) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QvlxoX1GjI

Short description

The Zelda series of games is not easily classified; I personally think it is of the puzzle-action-adventure genre. With a linear storyline, players adventure through dungeons, defeating enemies and solving puzzles to advance through the storyline. The Ocarina of Time’s defining characteristic is that time-travel (albeit only through 2 different times) is one of the main mechanics through which players advance.

The Elemental Tetrad

• Mechanics
  Mainly action – fighting and weapon/tool-use. Some weapons include bombs and arrows, and some of the more interesting tools include iron boots (used to sink and walk in water) and a shootable grappling hook. The strong adherence to physical rules aid the player in figuring out how and where to use the tools (puzzle-solving). There is also a little magical element in casting spells such as time-travelling by playing songs. Most consequences are still physical and thus players can logically deduce when and where to cast the spells.

• Story
  The story progression is linear, but the time-travelling aspect makes the player’s experience seem non-linear. The story-telling is quite tightly-fitted with gameplay, thus serves the game well. There are also surprises and a large plot twist which adds drama and immersion to the game.

Visuals, old (top) and new (bottom)

• Aesthetics
  The visuals are nothing spectacular. The Ocarina of Time was first released on the N64 in 1998, thus systems were only capable of supporting low-poly graphics. A remake for the 3DS features much better graphics but still not particularly impressive in this day and age. On the other hand, the music and sounds are beautifully-crafted and synchronise well with the mood of the moment. I feel that the animation is also realistic and expressive, to the point where combined with sound, I even sympathise with the main character when he shivers or falls. Not to mention that I am unable to detach myself emotionally when facing lurching enemies.

• Technology
  The game was first released on the N64, a console with standard interactions (screen, controller with buttons, vibration). The remake released for the 3DS featured a very different experience with the upgraded device, with features such as 3D view, gyroscope-controlled camera-panning and touch screen, on top of better graphics.

Back door access required!

Lens #6 The Lens of Curiosity
From the very first game in the series, players have always been rewarded for exploration. Other than the standard rewards such as hidden treasure chests and heart pieces (for increasing max HP), there are also Easter Eggs for the sharp-eyed, such as references to Mario characters and even Nintendo hardware. In addition, a sub-quest requires the player to look for Gold Skulltulas, a type of enemy, 100 in all, which are often hidden away from sight. Players use sound to identify their location and uncover them in various ways, including placing bugs or bombs in the suspicious area.

Lens #21 The Lens of Functional Space
Like all Zelda games, this one is split into an overworld and dungeons. What makes Ocarina of Time stand out is its use of time as a complex boundary to create a separate dimension. Things are similar, but not exactly the same between the past and present. By traversing time, players feel like they are exploring a new space, with a familiar configuration. To me, it feels like my heaven (child-era) turned into hell (teenage-era). Child-era is peaceful and joyful, with fun mini-games, whereas teenage-era is fraught with hellish creatures called forth by the final boss. All the more motivation to finish him off.

Lens #34 The Lens of Skill
Here, I feel that the one skill I lack is in archery. My poor shooting skill makes it extremely tedious and difficult to complete mini-games with moving targets, essential for weapon upgrades. Ocarina of time features a few shooting-related mini-games such as horseback archery and the shooting gallery. In addition, shooting skill is also essential in puzzle-solving and defeating enemies. In this respect, I think the game can improve by tweaking the shooting interface to make it easier.

Lens #76 The Lens of The Hero’s Journey
Zelda games tend to play like an epic, this one included. The game does not go through all 12 steps of Vogler’s Synopsis of the Hero’s Journey, in particular ‘#3 Refusal of the Call to Adventure’ (Link would never refuse!!), but definitely adequately qualifies as a Hero’s Journey. Typical as it may be that the hero is tasked to save a princess/the world, I find it quite amazing that I have not tired of this formula. Perhaps it is the sincerity with which the developers have presented the story. Perhaps gameplay trumps all cliches. Perhaps it is because of the princess’ own involvement in the rescue…

New discovery: cow residing in cave

Lens #4 The Lens of Surprise
Surprise is provided in many forms, from the story to uncovering new weapons and skills. A Zelda game is full of hidden surprises, all waiting to be discovered. The Ocarina of Time is one of my favourites, with developers hiding items and recovery spots out of sight and out of reach, prompting players to rack their brains to find new uses for their weapons, or novel ways to reach these spots. When unwittingly stumbled-upon, the shock turns into a pleasant surprise and a sense of achievement for making a new discovery once again.

WARNING: Undertale is a game best played without spoilers. If you are intending to play it with the best experience, please do not read this post.

Game Summary

Website: http://undertale.com/
Demo: http://undertale.com/demo.htm
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hojv0m3TqA

Undertale is an indie 2D single-player RPG game developed by Toby Fox using GameMaker: Studio, available on Windows, OS X, and Linux platforms.

The game is set in a world inhabited by both humans and monsters. A war broke out between the two races many years ago, one which the humans won and went on to seal and trap all monsters underground using a magical barrier.

The player takes on the role of a child who climbs a mountain and accidentally falls into the underground, beginning a quest to look for a way to leave.

Features (using the Elemental Tetrad)

Aesthetics

Graphics-wise, the game isn’t going to win any awards. Undertale uses 8-bit pixelized graphics, with nothing special to speak of. However, given the nature and relative simplicity of the game, I find it fairly appropriate that such old-school graphics are used. It shifts focus away from graphics and places more emphasis on the gam

Mechanics

The controls of the game are simple and intuitive, similar to that of console games. Movement is done via arrow keys, with a few other multipurpose keys used to interact with/select things, or open the menu, etc.

The combat system is instanced and turn-based, simplistic in offense but can be challenging in defense.

You attack by stopping a moving vertical line as close to the center as you can get (see above), dealing more damage the more accurate you are. You receive attacks from monsters in bullet hell mode, making the focus of combat avoiding attacks. Instead of attacking on your turn, you may choose to check the monster’s combat information, interact with your opponent, attempt to spare their lives or flee from battle. Sparing monsters isn’t straightforward all the time, often you need to sufficiently interact with the monster first.

Story

The story is simple. You start off in the ruins of the underground where you meet a kind, motherly figure who takes care of you. Eventually, you leave her to look for a way to leave the underground. Along the way, you meet monsters of all kind and learn of their desire to one day leave the underground, a future which their king promises will happen. You journey to meet this king, and your choices along the way affects the outcome of your quest.

The Lens of Meaningful Choices

The most common recurring choice you’ll make in the game is whether or not to spare the life of a monster you encounter in battle. The game operates on morality, and killing monsters, especially key characters in the game, will alter your playing experience one way, and choosing to help or befriend them will yield different results. Most of all, a lot of these choices question your morality, and you decide whether you want to be a serial killer or a gentle pacifist. At the end of the game, you do feel as if the result was brought about by your own actions, and if you had done things differently, they would have turned out differently.

Perhaps the most meaningful choice I had to make was at the end of the game, involving the evil, nihilistic, almost insane villain, who tormented you and everyone around you throughout the game, who tried to kill everyone and you, whom you have just defeated. Despite all that he has done, you are once again given a final choice — to spare him or to kill him. It is at this point where one truly learns the meaning of “mercy”, an action freely and easily given to all the innocent creatures you met, that only now is a difficult decision. Furthermore, the villain doesn’t beg for mercy, and keeps rejecting your attempts to spare his life, even threatening to make you pay for letting him live. Will you remain steadfast in your choice?

The Lens of Judgement

Towards the end of the game, a character will quite literally pass judgement on you based on your actions, more specifically how many monsters you have killed (based on your experience points and character level). The game “rewards” you with a happy ending if you have played it through without killing a single monster (you and the entire monsterkind gets freed from the underground and return to the surface to live in peace). On the other hand, the more kills you rack up, the “worse” the outcome of the game is, the worst being the destruction of the entire in-game universe (yes, that somehow happens). As you can see, the game judges players for their lack of digital morals, though this may not be a bad thing, since it gives you a chance to play as the villian. If you take the lives of monsters excessively, you will end up being treated like a villian, with mass evacuation taking place, all monsters fear you and loathe you. In fact, going the violent route actually makes the game more boring. You don’t meet many characters, combat involves you mindlessly slaying things, and you miss out on a lot of other things you can do when you’re not treated like a terrorist. This just reinforces the game’s stance on morality and encourages you to be a good person.

The Lens of Emotion

You get to know better or befriend a lot of quirky characters along the way, and form an emotional bond with them. You learn quickly that monsters are very much just like humans. This goes hand-in-hand with the lens of meaningful choices, and makes it sweeter when you manage to rescue everyone from the underground, and also harder to kill off characters like these.

The Lens of Novelty

An interesting design of the game is the way it breaks the fourth wall by incorporating saving and loading into part of the game world’s mechanics. The game allows one save slot, representing one universe, and the act of saving and loading the game is treated as a power of your child, a power that the being with the most determination can use, a power that used to belong to another character until the child fell into the underground and overwrote his capabilities. You have the power to restart the world at checkpoints and take different routes from there. The memories of monsters are (mostly) reset to that point accordingly, which coincide with the normal effects of saving and re-loading the game, but not entirely. A lot of characters seem to have some sort of déjà vu when you replay a part of the game. One character in particular has conducted research on timelines and notices many timelines starting and stopping, jumping back and forth. He suspects that someone is able to control it, and notices when you re-load the game again and skip through previously read dialogue, mentioning how he believes you’ve already read this dialogue before somehow.

Also interesting to note is that shop NPCs won’t buy items from you, just like how you can’t go to a supermarket and sell your junk. Why would they buy random stuff off customers?

The Lens of the State Machine

Undertale uses states to alter the storyline based on your actions. The first example is re-loading the game and replaying a part of it, with characters reacting a bit differently the second time round. Characters that are killed do not appear in the rest of the story, and they also affect other characters that may be close to them. A lot of conversations and some choices in game change or becomes available only when you have been through certain previous events.

Of special note to me is the when you achieve the worst ending in-game by excessive murder, resulting in the destruction of the universe by a powerful soul (which also intentionally crashes your game). When you run the game again, all you get is a black void. If you wait 10 minutes, the soul appears and reminds you of what you have done, but offers to re-create the world and let you play again, however, from that point onwards, your game is permanently “scarred”, and this powerful character will taint happy endings you try to achieve after having once gone down the path of no return, by slightly altering them visually to remind you of what you did.

Final Words

Video on some key features of Undertale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkJ8C1MEKLs

Website: http://danganronpa.us/danganronpa2/home.html

Gameplay 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BpcYbLjDKI
Gameplay 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSw9E5x2orE

Description:
This is a mystery visual novel game where a group of most talented students forced to live together on an island. The only way to leave is to murder another student and get away with it. When a crime occurred, a trial will be held, in which students must discuss who the murderer is. If they can pinpoint the murderer, he alone will be executed. Otherwise, the culprit will be set free while the rest will be executed. You play as one of the students.

Elemental Tetrad:

Aesthetics:
This game delivers a really unique aesthetics in which the characters are displayed as 2D sprites in a 3D world. Every student has different yet memorable characteristics in the way they think, talk and act. When investigating crime, I really like how they draw solid evidence as “bullets” which I use them to “shoot” down any contradictions during the trial discussion.

Story:
The story is the bread and butter. The game started with many happenings that left me in a completely clueless state. But many of my questions are slowly answered as the game progresses. Moreover, all of the murder cases are full of twists and mind-blowing truths that never disappoint a nitpicker player like me.

Mechanics:
This game has a variety of mechanics. I am very impressed at how they managed to introduce so many mini-games that all aims to progress the story to solve the mystery. The most common of which is the Nonstop Debate, where characters will automatically discuss the murder case, and it is all up to me to spot contradictions in order to proceed further. When every mysteries are solved by me, it makes me feel like a real detective.

Technology:
This game is playable on PS vita, PS4, ios, android and even home computers. Controls are simple and hence, really easy to adapt with any type of devices.

The lens of Essential Experience:
Every chapter has daily-life moments which let me explore around and improve friendship with the other characters. Sometimes, I thought I’ve entered the game, living a peaceful life. But murder is inevitable. Tensions build up gradually as the story continues. Before I realize it, either kill or be killed, some of my favorite characters disappeared at the end of every chapter.

Lens of curiosity:
Many mystery novel games have tons of content that tend to fill players with curiosity in the main gameplay. But this game has achieved another level. At the start of each chapter, I wonder who will be the next victim. At the murder scene, I wonder who is the killer. At the last few chapters, I wonder who will be the survivor.

Lens of Problem Solving:
During the class trials, mysteries are solved with solid evidence as backups. But when some problems are solved, more might appear. Nonetheless, the sense of satisfaction is fulfilling when everything starts to come together and queries are being well conquered.

Lens of Motivation:
The entire game is a mystery itself as one might ask why the killing is happening and no one is stopping it. However, clues are given at the end if each chapter. This encourages me to go on. Every chapter will also unlock a new environment where the next murder will tend to occur. With new place to explore and more murder case awaits, I can’t help with self-control and burn my sleep with some gamings.