Clash Royale was launched in early 2016 from Supercell. Clash Royale is a brand new, real-time, head-to-head battle game set in the Clash Universe. A breakthrough in the gameplay by adding a real-time strategy, MOBA and cards and other elements, tower defense with live real-time duel 1v1 play become popular around the world.

Website: https://clashroyale.com/

Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2unwuSrn7Qo

Elemental Tetrad

Aesthetics:

This game have beautiful graphics, especially on the different arena battlefields as players progress further in the game. It is further enhanced with the sound effects unique to each card when they are being played into battle.

Story:

There is no particular story to this game. The developers and the community however, have come up with random short clips every now and then featuring random events of certain card characters which are entertaining to watch.

Mechanics:

The game mechanics is simple. Players will just have to select 8 cards from their card collection to bring into the battle arena. During the real time PvP, the players will have to drop their cards in strategic areas of the battle map and see the character cards attack on their own into the enemy towers while using spell cards to turn the tides of the battle. The rules of this game is simply to destroy more opponent’s towers or the king tower to win the game and earn rewards to further upgrade the cards.

Technology:

The gameplay consists of real-time strategy, MOBA, cards and tower defense with live real-time duel 1v1 which are favourable to the majority, leading to its success in the mobile gaming industry.

Lens of Emotion

One of Clash Royale core designing principles is to evoke strong emotions, be it positive or negative. Aside from some cards such as X-bow and sparky that will invoke strong emotions in players during the game, the game allow the use of emoticons to taunt or to show sportsmanship depending on how a player uses it. Such strong emotions that players feel during the battle can affect their performance. Often, players who receive negative emotions from being taunted and losing will become more impatient in subsequent battles leading to more poor decisions and misplays, hence losing more battles before closing the game to cool off.

Emotes are also an important reminder that players facing another human being, be it a friendly one or a taunting rival, but there is definitely a person at the other end of the Arena and not a robot.

Lens of Reward

Clash Royale offers a reward system to help players build up their deck of cards to advance further in the game. The rewards do get better in quantity and quality so that players are motivated to play more games in order to achieve better rewards. The chest rewards also come with a countdown timer so that players will have to wait patiently, building suspense and excitement of getting a rare card as well as a cool down time so that players will not get bored of the game too soon.

Lens of Competition

Clash Royale core design is to bring out the competitive spirit in players. Every player will have trophy points that reflect their global or local rankings in the game to show others how skillful they are, however players can spend cash to give a great advantage in the game and rise quickly in the rankings which is a downside in the game as it does not really reflect on how good they are in the game.

Every battle players will battle it out with each other, the winner will be rewarded with chest and trophy points while the loser will be punished will a drop in trophy points. This creates a fierce competition as no players will want to lose their hard earned trophy points they had obtained from their previous victories.

There is also a tournament mode in the game that allows player to join with limited capacity and battle it out for an hour. only the top few players in the tournament will get rewarded with cards while the rest go empty handed. The tournament is a fair play as compared to the normal ladder matches as the cards level are standardised to the tournament standard.

Lens of Skill

More practice in the game of Cash Royale does improve the skill of a player as the player gets more comfortable with his/her strategy with a deck of 8 cards to bring into battle. In some cases of a skilled player, even with a deck of lower level cards they are able to defeat opponents that are supposedly more advantageous. In fair tournament battles a skillful player will be able to shine and come out as the top few even with low trophy ratings.

Lens of Spectation

Clash Royale offers live spectator mode for players to spectate one another. Players are also able to post replays of recent battles to the clan for their clan mates to view. There is also TV royale for players to view recent matches of top players or interesting battles in each arena level. This game is spectator worthy as players may want to try out new decks from top players or cheering on for their friends that are currently in battle to evoke more emotions during a battle. There are many players that stream their games to viewers in Cash Royale and post videos on how to handle certain popular cards or decks.

Website: http://store.steampowered.com/app/319630/

Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ix_Mfmjs5s

‘Life is Strange’ is an episodic 3D adventure game released in 2015. In this game you play as Max, a photography student who mysteriously gained the ability to rewind time after she witnessed a murder. With her newfound power, Max tries to find out more about the odd happenings that have been going on in her town, Arcadia Bay.

Lens #7: The Lens of the Elemental Tetrad

Story

• This is a very plot-driven game, where every player choice determine how the narrative unfolds. I think the story is undeniably the biggest part of this game.
• Unlike other choose-your-adventure games, what makes this game special is the ability to rewind time. With this superpower, the player can go back in time to redo an action, or to see how each choice leads to a different outcome, without having to load a savegame or replay the level.
• As the game progresses, the player will be introduced to many different characters and get to know more about them. Many players will find themselves developing a sense of attachment to several of the characters, which may influence some of the choices that they make later on in the game.
• The story also examines several sensitive issues, such as bullying, environmental
  changes, and mental health, and interweave them brilliantly with the plot

Mechanics

• Throughout the game, the player gets to explore various locations, interact with objects and talk to non-playable characters. This allows the player to know more details about the game’s world and characters, some of which are relevant to the story and can aid the player in making choices.
• The player’s ability to rewind time is an interesting mechanic and one of the selling-points of the game. The player is often encouraged to rewind time to change certain events or solve certain puzzles.
• The player can rewind anytime when in control of the character Max. This gives the player the freedom to experiment with time travel and discover different possible outcomes.

Aesthetics

• Overall, this game has a very beautiful and consistent aesthetic. Although the game does not have top-notch photo-realistic graphics, the game’s environment is still very pretty, colourful and detailed. I will say this game has a cartoon-ish but somewhat realistic look, that exhibits a warm feeling and is easy on the eye.
• Every time the player interacts with objects and characters, they will be able to listen to Max’s inner thoughts, which is a thing that very few games have. This really helps to bring out Max’s character and make the player relate to her.
• The voice-acting in this game is very well-done. So good that all the characters in this game, even the minor ones, feel very expressive and authentic, despite the rather stiff facial expressions and movements of the character models.
• Finally, the soundtracks in this game are terrific and perfectly fit the atmospheres of the scenes that each of them are used in. It truly is the icing on the cake that makes this game feels like a cinematic experience.

Technology

• The game’s 3D environment allows the developers to really flesh out the game’s world, in a way that they could not have done had the game been made in 2D or as a visual novel. Just being able to walk around in a 3D world and look at stuffs makes the game’s setting feel much more immersive and like a real place.

Lens #2: The Lens of Surprise

• Like every other story involving time travel, the story of this game is mind-blowing and full of unexpected twists.
• The theme of the game revolves a lot around the butterfly effect (the concept that a small change can have a very large effect). At many points in the game, the player will get to see how a small change of action in the past can have a profound impact on the game’s world.
• The choices that the player makes can have big or small effects on the story, but the full effect of a choice is often only played out in the long term. The player may be surprised by how a seemingly small choice that was made early in the game can have an unexpected consequence in a later part of the game!
• Episode 1 of the game (now FREE to play!) has a different, laid-back atmosphere compared to the rest of the game, which may give some players a false impression of what the game is truly like. In Episode 1, the story feels like an average teen drama with only a hint of time travel. Episode 2 and beyond is where the story takes a dark turn and gets really interesting. By the end of Episode 2, you will be tempted to say “well that escalated quickly”.

Lens #4: The Lens of Curiosity

• Most players will find themselves hooked by the storyline and be curious to find out what happens next.
• It also helps that the game has an episodic format, where each episode ends with a big reveal or cliffhanger that leaves the player yearning for more.
• There is an overarching plot in the game that involves solving a mystery. Players will uncover more information through their investigations, and be thirsting to find out the truth behind all the strange happenings.
• With the time travel element, it is especially hard for the player to predict how the
  plot will unfold, as the story becomes increasingly convoluted. Players will keep
  guessing till the end as they follow Max’s adventure through time and space.

Lens #3: The Lens of Fun

• The time-rewind mechanic is very fun to play with. The player can redo an action as many time as desired before moving on. And as Max rewinds, the player sees the entire game world reversing in time, including people walking backwards.
• The game utilizes the time-rewind mechanic to create many interesting scenarios. There are various small puzzles that require the player to rewind in order to solve them. The power also allows the player to teleport (as the protagonist Max is unaffected by her own rewind), adding another fun layer to the puzzles.
• The player can also make use of time-rewind to manipulate some characters. For example, the player can talk to a character to learn some useful information about the person; the player may then go back to time and use the new information to change the conversation and impress the person.

Lens #32: The Lens of Meaningful Choices

• This game is all about making choices; even a small optional action by the player
  may constitutes a choice.
• Every choice that the player makes will cause the plot to branch out into different scenarios. Whenever the player makes a choice, The game will inform the player that the action will have consequences.
• Whether is it a major choice or a minor choice, every choice will have some form of impacts that will manifest at a later part of the game. Even watering your plant will have consequences!
• Game encourages player to take time to think before making major choices. Some of them have very significant consequences that will determine the fate of certain characters, or change the relationship the protagonist has with certain characters.
• There are no right or wrong choices – some scenarios purposely present the player with moral dilemmas that will make the player struggle to even make a choice, while some choices are designed such that it is not possible to have a win-win situation.
• In any case, player should think about both the short-term and the possible long-term effect a choice can have, and decide for him/herself which is the best choice.

Dark Souls 3 is a third person action role playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It is the third game in the Dark Souls series. The game is set in the fictional world of Lothric, where the Age of Fire is ending and the player is tasked to prolong it by finding the Lords of Cinder.

Website: https://www.darksouls3.com/us/

Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alU-EC5FEjo

Elemental Tetrad

1. Aesthetics:
   1. Dark Souls 3 is a beautiful game, and right from the start, it pulls no punches in showing off its stunning environments. The first boss battle, which occurs a few minutes into the game, takes place in an open area beside a cliff, allowing the player a breathtaking view of the far off scenery. The field is covered in water, with ripples and reflections that add further to the intricate beauty of the scene. This make an excellent backdrop for the boss fight, generating awe and capturing the attention of the player as the game begins to kick off. Subsequent areas and battles each have their own method of drawing the player in, sustaining interest in the game and compelling the player to move on.
      

      The first boss arena

   2. Of note is the game’s rather distinctive flavor of fantasy, which often skillfully combines elements of the magnificent, the glorious and the lovely with the disturbing, the grotesque and the broken, resulting in enthralling designs that invoke a mix of emotions, and differentiating this game from other more generic fantasy titles in the market.
      

      A twisted monster and graceful dancer

2. Technology
   1. While the graphics are not the best for its time, they are still of high quality and of a level one would expect from a AAA title. Controls with the keyboard and mouse on the PC might be considered clumsy, and there is also the problem of lag during multiplayer, which impedes player enjoyment, especially in a game where quick responses and precise controls are needed.

3. Mechanics
   1. The mechanics Dark Souls 3 balance well to create a sense of player progression while still rewarding skillful play. On one hand, the player is able to level up and obtain various equipment throughout the game, which can help strengthen the player character and adds a sense of progression. On the other hand, good equipment or high levels alone are scarcely enough to achieve victory (unless one spends an unhealthy amount of time farming for these resources), thus the player is still encouraged to play carefully in order to advance.
   2. There is also versatility in the way the player invests their resources – players can choose to increase different stats or use different equipment that grants different benefits. These choices allows the player to feel more in control, encourages experimentation, and increases replay value.

4. Story
   1. The plot of Dark Souls 3 is simple. The player is told near the beginning of the game that they are to find the “Lords of Cinders” and return them to their thrones, presumably by fighting and defeating them (as is the conventional way of solving problems in video games). From then on, there is little interference from the narrative.The lack of interference from the narrative can, perhaps ironically, allow for greater immersion into the game, as less control is taken from the player through hand holding by the narrative device, and the player is left to wander freely by their own goals instead of having one forced upon them.
   2. While the main plot is simple, a large part of the story is contained in the game world’s lore, which, instead of being told directly to the player, exists like bits and pieces of a puzzle, scattered among the various items and NPCs in the game. This, coupled with the somewhat detached method of storytelling, means that players can absorb only as much of the story as they care to find, and uninterested players can easily ignore this part of the game and move on with their other goals. Nonetheless, those that prefer a more active involvement of the story might find this approach lazy and unengaging.

Lens of Emotion

• Dark Souls 3 invokes a variety of emotions in the players.
• Frustration and satisfaction. Frustration happens more often in the earlier parts of the game. When the player is still unaccustomed to the Dark Souls style gameplay, or unfamiliar with the enemies’ attack pattern, they might find themselves seeing the iconic “YOU DIED” message all too often. Fortunately, the game is largely fair with its difficulty, and many players eventually discover a way to overcome the obstacles in the game, which brings with it a sense of satisfaction.
• Awe and dread. There are many beautiful environments, with fine details and grandeur which inspires awe in the players who set foot in them. However, these environments are often dangerous, with traps and deadly enemies at every corner, filling the player with dread as they try to find their way through. There is no lack of powerful enemies, with overwhelming might, speed, or stature that inspires awe in the players who face them, and at the same time dread as players question their own ability to beat them.
  

  One of the most beautiful (and dangerous) areas in the game

• Desolation and Camaraderie. The world in Dark Souls 3 is cold and unforgiving. Most of the denizens of the world are hostile, insane, or treacherous. The player has little else to count on other than themselves. However, there exists a few NPCs who are there to lend their strength in jolly cooperation, or just to brighten the dreary mood. It is in this desolate place that their companionship really shines, building attachment and a sense of camaraderie with these characters.

Lens of Surprise

• The game throws its share of surprises at the player. These surprises are often avoidable by playing cautiously and being observant, thus encouraging the player to remain on guard and increasing the tension of the game.
• One classic trick in RPGs is the “Mimic” monster, which poses as a treasure chest to ambush unwitting adventurers. The one in Dark Souls is particularly horrid, with a grotesque appearance and dangerous attacks, giving a good shock (and possibly swift death) to unobservant players who fall for its disguise.
  

  Mimic

• Seemingly dead enemies/inanimate objects come to life and attack the player, often at inconvenient moments.
  

  Dead?

  

  Guess again

• Enemies ambush the player from their blind spots, such as from above, or from a corner.

Lens of Endogenous Value

• “Souls” currency can be obtained from defeating most enemies, and as treasures found on the map. This is the main resource in the game, allowing the player to level up or purchase items/equipment, which can make them more effective in combat.
• Various items/equipment can be obtained from defeating various enemies, or as treasures found on the map. They can confer various benefits to the player, such as better defense or higher attack, which can again help in combat. Wearing different equipment also changes the appearance of the player character, which may add value for some appearance conscious players. Even if the item/equipment will not be used by the player, they may still have value as their descriptions often contain pieces of game lore that give a little more detail about the Dark Souls world.

Lens of Griefing

• Players can grief by tricking others into being banned from multiplayer. Possession of items obtained through illegitimate means (save editor etc.) can get one’s account banned from multiplayer. However, there are players who obtain these illegitimate items and give them to other players. This can result in the other players getting wrongfully banned, even if they did no cheating of their own, causing much frustration and compromising the game experience.

Quantum Break is a cinematic third-person shooter game that incorporates science fiction. It was developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Microsoft, available on Xbox and Windows 10.

Game website: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/quantum-break

The Lens of the Elemental Tetrad

• Story
  • The plot centers on the character Jack Joyce who gained the power of manipulating time during an explosion of a time machine. Time fractures start to occur which signals the end of time. Jack’s friend, Paul Serene would like to sell his time technology and make profits out of it without fixing the fractures. Jack, however, is keen to fix the fractures and turns against Paul.
  • The concept is rather interesting among cinematic games since the power to control time has always been fascinated by humans.
• Aesthetics
  • This game has beautiful and futuristic graphics. During time fractures in the game, everything freezes in the world and space ripples around the character.
• Mechanics
  • The mechanics are rather simple in this game. Players are able to freeze an area of space-time and distort space-time to battle the enemies.
  • It is essentially a third-person shooter game with very few weapon types including only assault rifles, pistols, mini-machine guns and shotguns. Even with the ability to manipulate time, the main weapon that the character use to kill his enemies are guns.
• Technology
  • The game utilizes a new in-house engine called the Northlight Engine.To represent the idea of “broken time” and have a detailed destruction system, the team created lots of environments which put the player character in the midst of destruction, utilizing technologies ranging from geometric distortion waves to Thinking Particles. [1]

battle during time fracture

The Lens of Action

• There are two main operational actions in the game. Firstly, in order to find the correct path, the player need to cross a series of obstacles, sometimes with the need to utilize his time power (e.g. to freeze time to stop something from collapsing on him). Secondly, the player need to kill enemies with guns and his time power.
• I feel that the actions are quite simplistic and become boring after playing for some time. The combats with enemies are rather easy even without using his time power.

The Lens of Meaningful Choices

• The plot contains four junctions where players can make choices which will lead to different game plot.
• However the two different plots that results from the player’s choices only differ slightly. Different choices will lead to the same ending and the different plots are not meaningful to the progress of the game.

The Lens of Surprise

• After each chapter, there will be a short film which connects the plots between two chapters. The plots also transit smoothly from gameplay to screenplay.
• All the characters in the game are models after real charaters in the screenplay. The combinations of computer graphics and films adds some elements of surprise to the game.

The real characters in screenplay

The Lens of Time

• The total game play is about 4 – 5 hours. I personally feel like the game is too short and lacks of elements that attracts players to replay the game.
• Unlike games like TitanFall and Destiny, this game does not support multi-player.
• The plot is simple and short and I personally do not see the point of replaying the game just to get familiarized with the plot.

[1]: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_Break

INSIDE is a 2.5D puzzle platformer adventure game developed by Playdead that made LIMBO. The player will control a boy in a dystopic world to solve challenging environmental puzzle to avoid death.

Website link: http://www.playdead.com/games/inside/

Gameplay video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1FU-T2EsVA&t=4116s

Elemental tetrad

Story

A little boy found himself in a dystopic world and trying to figure out the mysteries that are happening around him.

Mechanic

• Arrow keys to walk and jump, Control Key to interact with environment
• Solve environmental puzzle to progress through the level or to avoid the enemy

Aesthetics

• 2.5D adventure platformer
• Monochromatic world that creates a spooky and dark environment

Technology

• Customized Unity 5 engine
• Runs on PC, PlayStation, Xbox one

Analysis of game through lens:

The lens of secrets

At some parts of the game, players might discover hidden rooms that contains glowing orbs. If all glowing orbs are collected, the player can unlock an alternate ending.

The lens of challenge

The player can die in a number of ways if not careful or quick enough, mutilated by dogs, being shot by tranquilizer dart, blown apart by shockwaves or drowning. Although the challenges don’t scale according to the level, but new challenges are introduced instead.

The lens of puzzle

INSIDE is about solving puzzle to proceed to the next environment.

Example of puzzle principles applied:

• Easy to get started

The environmental puzzle are very easy to interact with only control and arrow buttons.

• Goals are easily understood

Goals of the puzzle are often the obstacles that are preventing the player from progressing. For example, to reach a higher ground.

• Sense of progress

Player will be able to feel like they progressed to the next area or level when they solved the puzzle to overcome the obstacles.

The lens of atmosphere

The game is very dark and mostly silent with some musical cues to represent a dystopic world.

The lens of simplicity / complexity

The game has very simple graphical look and interaction. Only control key and arrow buttons are needed to interact with the object. However, the mechanic of the object that are interact with can produce complex results. For example, swinging on the rope to produce more momentum.

The lens of Actions

The little boy in the game can only run from enemy or interact with objects. The player must rely on basic controls to interact with the environment to outsmart the enemy.

The lens of curiosity

The game is set on a dystopic world where there are full or mystery like walking dead body and ability to control the dead which will cause a lot of curiosity on what is going on in that world.

Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWKUAX9n0Fs

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas

Introduction

Fallout: New Vegas is a post-apocalyptic role-playing game developed by Obsidian Entertainment that is released in 2010. The game centres on the events years after a nuclear fallout between countries over natural resources. The player starts off as a Courier who was tasked to deliver a package, but was, unfortunately, attacked by a group of raiders. Surviving from the fatal attack, the Courier sets off to find his assailants to recover the package that was stolen from him.

The Elemental Tetrad

Aesthetics: Set in an alternative reality where it is commonly referred to, in the 1950s, “the world of tomorrow”, the game was designed to portray the future of that era, where advanced technologies such as lasers and robots are invented. It is a world that focuses a lot on scientific advancements. This provides us a getaway from our everyday lives, making the game much more intriguing. The sound used in the game complemented with its theme, giving players a much more immersive gaming experience.

Story: The game talks about a world, ravaged by a nuclear fallout, and its survivors, either vying for power or simply finding a place of solace. It shows us numerous issues that are present in the real world, with some being very relatable. It allows you create your own adventure, where it puts you into situations that forces you to make decisions that deals with morality, leading to different endings. Often, one finds himself in similar positions, hence invoking feelings and thoughts without having to face the consequences in real life.

Mechanics: As the game can be played in both First- and Third-person, it follows the convention, where WASD keys are for movement and left-clicking allows the use of an equipped weapon. The game has also included interactions with other game objects by pressing E to interact with them. This action can either be crafting or picking up objects.

Technology: The game is released for consoles and PC as it require certain tools in order to play the game well. These tools, such as mouse and keyboard, enable a player to do more with the game, hence creating a better gaming experience.

Lens of Meaningful Choices

The game contains choices that affects its main storyline. Often, the player have to support factions that are hostile towards each other, or making choices that alter the player’s karma, which affects the ending. Each option has its own pros and cons that indirectly impacts a player’s gaming experience.

An example is the quest “You Can Depend On Me”, given by the leader of a faction known as the Crimson Caravan. It tasks the player with necessary and optional objectives. Among them, the player has to steal a manufacturing specification from the Gun Runners, an organisation that produces superior weaponry. Its completion provides a wider variety of weapons from the Crimson Caravan shop, but it is accompanied with bad karma. However, this is optional – not doing it will not have any negative repercussions, though the player will not get access to better weapons. Such choices force players to make their choices wisely.

Lens of Character Traits

As it is a role-playing game, it gives the player the liberty to choose the attributes for its character. It is represented as S.P.E.C.I.A.L., where every letter is a unique attribute. These attributes will then affect its skills. Skills determine the character’s effectiveness in different situations. For example, crafting of ammunitions for a specific gun require a minimum Gun skill level, and higher levels allow the player to create deadlier ammunition for the gun.

Characters can also gain perks that adds on to or enhances its capabilities. An example is the “Black Widow” perk, which can only be acquired by female characters. The main purpose of this perk is to unlock unique dialogue options with certain characters in-game. This influences the gaming experience for the player, leaving a deeper impression on the game.

Lens of Emotion

The game starts off with a phrase “War. War never changes”. It then begins to narrate the events prior to the nuclear fallout. Along with the melancholic music, one will be able to feel the gloom and despondency in such setting. During the game, there are locations that invoke similar feelings – upon entering Vault 22, there are unusually small humanoid plant mutants attacking the player. The player explores the place after killing them, but only to find a room filled with child-sized beds and toys. The developers want the players to empathise with the characters in-game, and I think they were successful in doing so.

Lens of Story Machine

The game has multiple endings that is based off the player’s actions and karma.  Apart from the main storyline, there are side missions that also contributes to the ending. As the game has a lot of factions, a player can unlock its respective ending by encountering them. This allows players to customise their gaming experience – they can choose to learn more about the Mojave Wasteland, where the game is set in, or they can focus on finishing the game.

All of the endings: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas_endings

Lens of Challenge

As the game is vastly different from many First- and Third- person shooters, it makes it difficult for newer players, who are too used to the latter gun mechanics. Though this game was developed with the concept of survival in mind, it is sold as a shooter, which is often seen as a fast-paced, action-packed game. However, the developers added the VATS system, which is an auto-targeting system for guns. Yet it is not sufficient enough to ease the gameplay. As such, this may possibly diminish its value among the gaming community.

In conclusion, Fallout New Vegas is a game that is successful in attracting post-apocalyptic role-playing gamers, as it contrasts itself with most games today that are based on current affairs or futuristic technology. Hence its uniqueness leaves players with a memorable experience.

Description

Pokémon Go is a free-to-play, location-based augmented reality game developed by Niantic for Android and iOS devices. This game utilizes the Global Positioning System (GPS) of the mobile device for the player to navigate through the world. In this game, players are able to find, capture and battle with virtual creatures, called Pokémon. These Pokémon can be seen on the mobile screen as if they were located at the same location as the player in the real world. Items, such as pokéball (for capturing pokémons), can be obtained through in-app purchases or spinning something called the pokéstop.

Game Webpage

http://pokemongo.nianticlabs.com/en/

The Lens of the Elemental Tetrad

Aesthetics:

The main attraction of Pokémon Go is probably the Pokémon creatures themselves, as Pokémon models are replicated from the largely popular original Pokémon series. This effectively brings back the feelings of nostalgia as the original Pokémon series made up a large part of many youths’ childhoods. Moreover, the game has amazing graphics and most Pokémons look cute and appealing to the masses. This is further enhanced by the music and sound in the game when the player performs certain actions.

Technology:

Pokémon Go is among the first few games to use Augmented Reality to create a blend between the virtual and the real world, by superimposing an image generated by the computer onto the real world through the camera of a mobile device. The game also utilizes GPS, location services, and mapping technologies to further deliver a novel game mechanic to the players.

Mechanics:

This game brings out a whole new game mechanic to the players. To navigate the world in this game, players have to physically move around in the real world instead of pressing some buttons on the keyboard. In other words, players have to explore the real world around them to hunt for Pokémon, spin Pokéstops and battle gyms.

Story:

Pokémon Go does not really have a storyline. The game begins with Professor. Willow telling you to go and catch Pokémon all over the world, in order to aid his research, and that is the entire story this game has. The player then proceeds on an unending journey in pursuit of Pokémons. The reason to not really need the storyline lies within the novel game mechanic and the nostalgic feeling of Pokémons, which are the main alluring factors for players to play this game.

Combination:

All of these 4 elements combine and works towards a common goal – to bring a novel experience to players and encourage exploration of our real world. The success of Pokémon Go comes from the novel and interesting game mechanic it brings, and the feelings of nostalgia for some of the youths. Although I am in favour of this game design, I would still want the introduction of more game mechanics into this game as the novelty is starting to die off and more is required to keep this game alive.

The Lens of Cooperation

This game brings about plenty of opportunities for cooperation in one way or another. As players are required to go out to the real world to play the game, there is a great chance that players will meet one another in real life. Strangers can talk to each other because of this game as they can inform or guide one another to a rare Pokémon which they may have encountered. Moreover, players can work together in gym battles to take down a gym of an opposing team, and fighting together is a faster way of the attempt to take over a gym. All of these encourage collaboration and cooperation of the players. I am in favour of this game design as it can break the ice between strangers and even deepen the bonds of friends or families when they play the game together.

The Lens of Skill vs. Chance

The main part of Skill vs. Chance in Pokémon Go comes from the capturing of Pokémon. To capture a Pokémon, the player has to throw a ball at the Pokémon. This requires certain amounts of skills as different way of throwing and hitting the Pokémon generates different catch rates and bonuses, while the ability to capture the Pokémon or not comes down to chance. For example, players need to have some amount of skill in order to get a “Great Throw”, but getting this only equates to higher chance of Pokémon capture and not definite capture. Personally, I am in favour of this game design as beginners can benefit from the chance aspect when they get lucky, while not putting seasoned players at a disadvantage as they possess a higher chance of capturing the Pokémon, this is a nice balance to me.

The Lens of Surprise

There are plenty of surprises in store for players in Pokémon Go. Players will be pleasantly surprised when they just randomly walk into an encounter with a rare Pokémon, or when their Pokémon eggs hatched into a desired, rare or strong Pokémon, or even when one of the most dull and mundane Pokémon captures turns out to be a Ditto in disguise. (Note: Ditto is a Pokémon which will transform and disguise as another Pokémon). All of these pleasant surprises is a huge factor in enticing players to continue playing the game, and personally I enjoy them as well, thus I am in favour of this.

The Lens of Fun

The fun aspect of Pokémon Go comes from the capture or hatch of a new Pokémon, which you have never encountered before, or from the capture of a rare or strong Pokémon. However, once the player has finished capturing all available Pokémons, the fun factor will decrease significantly as what is left to do now is only capturing rare or strong Pokémons. Thus, I feel that more Pokémons (of later generations) should be introduced quicker in this game to bring the fun factor back. Moreover, I feel that the gym battles portion of the game needs to be more fun, as the current system only allows players to tap the screen repeatedly to unleash the Pokémon’s attacking moves and swipe the screen to dodge an incoming attack. I also feel that more game mechanics should be introduced in this game to bring the game back to where it used to be, and to make it more fun.

Don’t Starve is a single player survival game created by KLEI Entertainment. The game is set in a dark and magical world in which the player has to scour the world in search of resources to survive. There are multiple characters to play as and each character has its own unique perks that affect the way you play Don’t Starve. The game has two DLCs which are Reign of Giants (RoG) and Shipwrecked. There is also a stand alone game called Don’t Starve Together for multiplayer.

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

Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6llTfYmI90

Lens of elemental tetrad

Aesthetics

Don’t Starve boasts a dark theme. The art styles and the sound effects alone help to depict the impression of a direness of the situation and the need to survive. The colors and sound in the game progress with the changes in environment and actions done in the game.  These help me as the player to realize and immerse into the situation I was in. The results in intuitive gameplay.

Technology

The game is available on console, PC and mobile. The game runs in a pseudo 3D environment with mostly 2D assets. Having these relatively GPU light visuals allows the game to be flexible enough to be played on all platforms. There are also not much buttons used in the game as it is possible to play the game on PC with just one hand either on the mouse or keyboard.

Mechanics

The character’s status is represented by several meters which are health, hunger and sanity. These meters will fluctuate depending on the environment, weather or actions taken. The player has to search the map to look for resources to craft and improve his/her survival rates. The game focuses a lot on exploration as each map is randomly generated and important resources are scattered throughout the whole world. Exploring and combat will be necessary in order to survive the game. This will provide the player with rarer resource to make higher tier equipment, and the cycle continues.

Story

The game has a story mode called Adventure Mode that can be activated through the sandbox mode. The player has to search for a structure called Maxwell’s Door in sandbox mode to start the story. The story is simple yet interesting and closes the loop on how and why the world of Don’t Starve came about in the first place. The game still has its main focus on survival than the story.

Overall

I feel that the four elements complement each other to provide an immersive and dark survival game.

Lens of Visible Progress

The game has an element in base building and tech tree. As the player progresses on, the base will grow larger and the player will be able to craft more things from different crafting stations. The number of days survived is also clearly shown to the user in the UI to show how far the player has progressed. These feedbacks tell the player clearly that he/she is getting stronger and more well equipped to deal with anything the game can throw at him/her. The progress indicators in the game is broken down into small bite-sized pieces. Content that is slowly released into the world as the player progresses are also indicators of progress.

Lens of curiosity

The game keeps the player curious. Many equipment and structures are given weird names and vague descriptions that suit the theme but does not provide information about the item. This makes the player wondering, leading them to craft it themselves. Some clues are given in small pieces to lead the player on.

In this example, I was investigating ‘Suspicious dirt piles’ which revealed animal tracks for me to follow. It led me to a source of food. It is also possible to find a mini-boss at the end of the trail sometimes. This encourages the player to be alert and actively search for ways to survive.

Lens of punishment

Don’t Starve can be very punishing as if you die in game, the game world will be deleted along with all your progress. This can be devastating to a causal player who died to a silly mistake. At first glance this can seem as unfair and frustrating to some. This results in an effect that your life is very precious and any mistake can be fatal. There are also many enemies in the game, events or environmental hazards that can kill you. Although this reinforces the design of the game as a dark survival game, it may be too much for some players. On the other hand, if you manage to survive a long duration of time, it gives the player a sense of pride and accomplishment. This works well with the theme of the game which emphasizes heavily on survival with little hand-holding.

In this picture, my base just got destroyed by a Bearger.

I tried to lure it to some killer bees..

But, he wrecked us all.

Lens of control

The interface of the game is quite intuitive and simple. The hotbar at the bottom, crafting window on the left and character status on the right gives the necessary information to the player concisely and clearly. The interface is very learnable and effective.

The player can also hover over objects to view the name and right click to ‘examine’ the object. This allows for more screen space for what really matters which is happening on screen near the player.

Orchids to Dusk is a short ambient game created by Pol Clarissa. In the game, you play an astronaut who has crashed landed on an alien planet. However, upon crash landing, you realized that you have a limited supply of oxygen and hence only a few minutes left to live and explore the planet.

Website Link: http://www.ko-opmode.com/orchids

Game Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Tw2XkQqkow

Lens of Elemental Tetrad

Mechanics: Orchids to Dusk is unique because even though it is such a simple game, it is also very profound. Instead of the usual action-packed adventures of normal games, Pol purposely created a game which focuses on simple idleness. Players have no objectives and are free to wander wherever they wish within the constraints of their oxygen level (which will eventually deplete) in an arid environment that was almost bare and seemed never-ending.

This setting conveys that the player is not all-powerful, and hence shifts the focus away from player-centered game-play seen in many objective-based games. Players are now forced to contemplate the character’s feelings and take in the serenity of the surroundings as they move through the landscape with the clock ticking down. This allows players to immerse and appreciate every moment of the game until the end, rather than just fixate on completing objective after objective. In this game, simple things like movement to a place would be a significant consideration, amidst the dwindling oxygen supply.

Furthermore, the game is a shared experience. Any player who plays the game would start in the same online world. In the game, you can either wait for your oxygen to deplete and pass away or you could voluntarily accept your fate and take off your helmet, following which you would become part of the landscape itself, contributing various beautiful trees and vegetation which would mark your resting place.

As a new player explores the same alien world, he can see the spots of beautiful vegetation left behind by others before him. This not only gives players certain control over death, but it also gives a sense that you are never truly alone in that world, making the concept of death seem much more accepting. The spot of vegetation left behind as you merge with the landscape after death simply adds further to the interaction between character and surroundings.

Story: There is no main plot once the game-play starts. The only background story provided in the game is the same 2-sentence introduction given at the start of this analysis. This proves that you do not always require a detailed plot to prompt players to contemplate life meanings and sincerely enjoy the interactions between character and surroundings. The lack of story seems to allow players to move away from objective-based playing to one that focuses more on the moment-to-moment interaction in the game.

Aesthetics/ Technology: Being a game that relies heavily on the interactions between character and its landscape, the visuals of the game are simple, yet amazing. Simple in the sense as to convey the intent that the player cannot see everything in the barren alien world, yet amazing in the spots of vegetation that pop up here and there to mark the passing of other players. The graphics, such as the trees, ground vegetation and colorful swirls, were all very detailed. The character also adopts different poses with respect to his action and/or surroundings, allowing stunning shots to be taken. Each spot of vegetation was different, probably corresponding to the number of people who passed away in that spot. The use of soothing music also helped to ease the mood of the game to convey a sense of appreciation and acceptance, which is believed to match well with the intent of the game.

The game was made to be a short and simplistic game. Hence not much CPU is needed to play the game. Only around 113 MB of memory space is needed to download the game before running the application and playing it.

Overall: I believe that the intent of the game was to focus on the character’s interaction with the surroundings and to get the players to appreciate every moment in the game through contemplation of various meanings and acceptance of death itself (which, like the astronaut, is something we ultimately would face in our lives). The elemental tetrad complemented smoothly with that intent to create a shared and contemplative wandering experience.

Lens of Curiosity

Coming into the game with no objectives and a depleting oxygen meter, it sparks a certain desire to challenge the status quo that the astronaut must die. The simple game fills into mind many possibilities, such as to explore far-away runes hoping to find habitation on the arid world, or to find a resupply of oxygen in that far-away corner, and it does this by allowing the player’s imagination to fill the almost barren landscape which sparks different possibilities and attract the curiosity of the player to explore them.

Lens of Meaningful Choices

Orchids to Dusk allows players to choose to go and explore wherever they like. It prompts the player to decide how to spend his remaining oxygen supply, whether to explore further to fulfill curiosity, to just sit down and admire the vegetation or scenery or voluntarily take off his helmet to accept death earlier. This is meaningful because it means either fighting against death till the end to explore as far as possible or to relish in the moment and accept fate. The profound concept of acceptance of death is being brought up here and left for the player to choose.

Lens of Simplicity/Complexity

Orchids to Dusk is a very simple game with no plot or objectives during game-play, however it can bring out profound meanings and introduce the concepts of appreciation and acceptance all at once, while allowing players a certain degree of freedom to make their own choices in the arid world, e.g. whether to explore further to search for a way out or accept their fate. Its emergent complexity allows players to contemplate these concepts while playing the game.

Lens of Time

Orchids to Dusk has an optimal game-play time of around 5 minutes from the time when the astronaut crash-lands till he runs out of oxygen. The timing seems appropriate because it is not too short that players get frustrated that they die too early without being able to explore up till a certain limit of where their curiosity takes them, but also not too long such that players get bored of exploring. This is important, especially in this game where there are no plots or objectives to hold the player’s attention. Hence the whole wondering experience cannot be too long, yet must be short enough for players to immerse in the interaction with the surroundings and also contemplate on the concepts intended by Pol when he created the game, , i.e. appreciating the present moments.

Website/ Youtube Link

Website Link: https://worldofwarcraft.com

Trailer Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYNCCu0y-Is

Gameplay Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joJJt3ERCws

Short Description

World of Warcraft (WoW) is a massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG)  created by Blizzard in 2004. Since the start of WoW, there are 6 expansions that expands the world to a higher level. Players start by choosing a class and a race, races picked will affect the faction which you will join. The available factions are Alliance and Horde. With the current expansion, players that are level 100 set out to the area of Broken Isle to level and help defeat the Burning Legion.

Elemental Tetrad

                Experience

                The experience in the World of Warcraft varies, there are the levelling experience, Player versus Environment (PVE) experiences, Player versus Player (PVP) experiences and Role Playing (RP) experiences. For levelling experience, the player levels his/ her character to the maximum level, 110, by doing quest, clearing dungeons and killing monsters. The player is also able to learn the lore of the game through questing. In PVE experiences in the end game, players team up with each other to clear raids and higher difficulty dungeons. A raid is a larger and flexible dungeon which requires 10 – 30 players to cooperate to kill the raid bosses, with the most difficult mode, Mythic, requires 20 players to take on. In PVP experiences, players are able to attack other players from the different factions in PVP worlds. Players are also able to queue for arena, a 2v2 – 5v5 PVP arena, and battlegrounds, a larger scale 30 vs 30 battle arena. Different battlegrounds have different objectives to do, from Capture the flag to escorting the payload to the end. In RP servers, players create a character that will join to create their own story with other players.

                Aesthetics

                WoW is set in the world of Azeroth, a world full of magic and magical creatures. In every expansion, the world is set to a different kind of Aesthetics, from demons to pandas. In the recent expansion, the new area, Broken Isle, has different areas. In Azsuna, the area is filled with Nagas, creatures that live in water, who are attacking the area with one small area that are filled with demons. In Val’sharah, it is a druidic like area which is being corrupted by the demonic energies of the burning legion. In Highmountain, the area is full of mountains and different tribes of creatures. In Stormheim, it is design with the feeling of valor, where you quest to prove your worth to one of the Titan Keeper, Odyn. There is also enemies that are from Helya’s army, who are attacking Odyn’s army.

                Story

                WoW have a long history of lore, with each expansion increasing the amount of lores. With the current lore, Guldan, an orc warlock, was pushed into a portal to Azeroth of the main timeline after the defeat of Archimonde in the alternate timeline. He then open a way for the burning legion to attack Azeroth.

                Mechanics

                As a MMORPG, your characters will learn different skill at different level. You cast spells by pressing on a button assigned to it, and you move your character by using the buttons q, w, e, a, s, d. Unlike the newer MMORPG, in WoW, when you cast a spell, the spell will automatically hit on the target you have selected, in newer MMORPG, you have to aim your spells. In raids, there are different raid mechanics that players have to learn to defeat the boss, like not standing on the fire that the boss created.

One of the different UI addons you can use to customize your World of Warcraft Experience

Lenses

                Lens of Challenge / Cooperation

                As a player who mainly plays the end game PVE, the lens of challenge is on defeating the boss before a certain timing, doing the mechanics correctly and dealing enough damage to the boss, and when the boss dies, it drop loots for the players to gear up and to do more damage. There are different modes to challenge the players. There are Looking for Raid (LFR), Normal, Heroic and Mythic mode. In LFR, you queue to join random players to defeat the easier version of the boss, in normal the skills that the boss casts is more painful and boss have higher health. In Heroic, some bosses will introduce new mechanics for the players to dodge/manage. In Mythic, It is a set number of 20 players, and the boss will have new mechanics, most of the time it will punish the raid if it is not done correctly. I have combine Cooperation with Challenge as they are something similar in WoW, to make the fight easier,  the players who are grouped up together have to cooperate with each other, using any form of voice communication, like Discord, to call out certain mechanics. There are tanks, which takes the hard hitting damage from the boss, the healers, who heal the entire raid, and there is the damage dealers, who are the one dealing the most damage to kill the boss.

                Lens of Skill

                While raiding, the skills that a player required is basically knowledge, reaction and perseverance. In every boss fight, every raider is needed to know what skill will the boss cast, which can be read through the dungeon journal tab or reading it up online. In reaction, players are needed to react to certain boss skill, reducing the damage taken by avoiding the skills. In perseverance, in progression raiding, raid where you fight the boss for the first time, if your group is still learning the boss, you need to be prepare to die many times before being able to kill the boss.

One of the boss from the latest expansion in Emerald Nightmare

                Lens of Chance

                Every race have their own form of chance, on different skill, talents and passives. This makes the game more interesting as without chance, people would probably use the method of min max-ing and find the best damage class, best healer class and best tank class to defeat the boss.

                Lens of Fairness

                In WoW, there are many small patches which will nerf overpowered class that happen to get a really good buff during bigger patches, this makes the game more fair as people can play the class they like instead of playing the more over powered classes.

                Lens of Goals

In WoW, there are 2 major goals, in PVP, players are aiming to be the best PVP team/player, in arena they plan to be the group with the highest match making rating (MMR). In PVE, the groups of players are aiming to clear the raid before everyone else to be the world/realm first to defeat the last boss in the highest difficulty. Goals are achievable if you put in time and effort into the game.

The legendary artifact of Protection Warrior