Exercise 5 :: 2D Platformer :: Level Design

The main character is a pompous wizard who characteristically wields a staff that can change between night and day.

Game Mechanics:

The game derives some of its mechanics from basic 2D platformers, but it has its own features to distinct from other games. The basic mechanics are jumping through different platforms and levels. Your character also dies if it drops down unto to the void or get enough hits from different hazards such as traps, spikes and enemies.

What we designed as characteristic feature is the ability to switch between day and night through the use of wizards staff. Some blocks and enemies only exist while day and other enemies and blocks exist during the night. Through the usage of staff and it's abilities the player can move through platforms and levels. Without using this ability, the player cant progress.

Other ability of the staff is forming the energies of day and night into different energy bolts. During the day shot bolts are do damaging fire damage and during the night slowing cold damage. Just to make things interesting, some of the enemies are immortals, and cant be harmed by any means. These, however, are rare occurrences.

Our wizard has also a levitation ability. At the max jump height the player can levitate a short duration of time to avoid some traps and enemies.

There is also a catch how the game is won. The moon must turn into a BANANA. How this is achieved then? By throwing a thousand bananas at enemies. There is a con to this however. Whenever an enemy is hit by a banana, the enemy enrages and is enhanced with power. Throw enough bananas even at a chicken, and you have a mad chicken destroyer up against you. The more you throw bananas at the enemy, the more damage players fire bolt does.

Player controls:

The player can shoot energy bolts with a staff to the direction of the mouse position on screen.

Movement happens with basic WASD - controls, W and A are for moving up and down on possible ladders, while S and D guarantee horizontal movement.

Space bar is used for jumping with the character. If space button is being pushed down after the jump, the player starts a short duration levitation.

Esc-button pauses the game and opens the in-game menu.

User Interface:

Main menu has six different buttons. We have "Continue" button, "Start" button, "Options", "Shop", "Credits" and "Exit" buttons. The game automatically saves after each level, so there is no in-game save mechanics. There is five different slots a player can choose to save his progress after each level. "Continue" button does what it says. It continues from there where you left your progress. "Start" button starts the game from beginning, or from a level the player chooses. "Options" allows the player to rebind keys and change graphical, gameplay and sound settings. "Shop" brings up some microtransactions, where you can buy new skins and bosses. "Credits" shows the creators of the game, and "Exit" terminates the program.

In-game there are only a few given information bars to show player progress. There is a level bar that shows your current level. There is also "bananas thrown" bar that shows how many bananas the player has thrown. On the upper right corner of the screen is a timer, which shows the elapsed time of that level.

Little Big Planet :: Review Exercise

Little Big Planet, which can be refered as LBP, is a puzzle oriented adventure and platformer game designed by Media Molecule, and it was released late 2008. Supporting up to four players, LBP is quite funny and challenging no matter how many players there is at a time.

The game starts with spiderweb kind of  a map where you can go to different directions and unlock further maps and levels with your voodoo doll like character, which is customizable with many aesthetically different skins and cloth pieces e.g. cowboy hat and glasses. The amount of different customizations is enormous, and they can be unlocked through careful search through the levels.

What especially makes LBP fun and desirable, is its challenge and ability to support up to four players. The challenge isn't insurmountable and differs from level to level. There are even unlockable challenge maps that have easy, normal and hard modes, all being able to be unlocked through passing the easier level. Characters are also rather fun beings as you can control their emotions and do some crazy stuff with them like grabbing someone else's character and drag it through the ground or even at some cases, do a fun little suicide jump to the lava. Isn't that fun? About the desirability aspect, this game is innovative and good example of what games can be and what they are capable of. It is worth a shot or even a glimpse, it might surprise you. Also the graphics are quite neat and the game challenges you to complete the levels with the big one hundred percentage everyone (maybe?) wants to see. I believe that the community also keeps the game alive by creating new levels, challenges and bosses.

One aspect of the game that adds challenge, is it's 2 leveled depth. The game has basically two lines that can be switched through with by pressing jump button and going either down or up at the same time. This adds depth to the levels but can also confuse some people. Imagine having an enemy on the first line and you have the option of  going through it by passing it from the behind. The challenge comes with the enemy movement. It moves left or right and through these two levels. Some people especially have problems with perceiving this change in depth. It's however a minor problem that many players allow to be without further ado.

What I noticed with multiplayer aspect of the game, is that the camera tends to follow those that are left behind. Though randomly it follows the leading player. This might make players interested in helping each others and progressing together, but what happened when I played with my friends, is that the fastest one rushes on and the rest either drag the camera back or die when the fastest player goes too far. This might cause some minor losing of nerves or just random laughter, but it is still a problem at some cases.

During the game I couldn't help but notice that the sound and music added excellent atmosphere to my play experience. Relaxing music when the time was right for little exploring, and adrenaline pumping music at times when I had to evade fiery rocks and falling ice spikes really gave on the feeling I needed. The story didn't really hit me as it was a bit abstract. I say abstract because it wasn't really necessary and it didn't even wake up my interest in the slightest. But without taking in count the story the entirety of the game was enjoyable.

After stopping my gameplay and going through my little notes and feelings afterwards, I can recommend this game to anyone who likes a  good adventure and platformer game. The game is fun, it is innovative and it certainly is a good option if you want good multiplayer or singe-player experience.


Review by: Jani Ahde

Sonic Adventure 2 Battle

Yo.

In our game design class we had to play a bunch of old shitty games and review them.

I'm going to write a review of a game called "Sonic Adventure 2 Battle" on Nintendo Gamecube.

In my opinion the single player mode is good and diverse, even though the levels are extremely linear. There is a bunch of different interactions that you can do with the enemies and other objects in the game. I really liked the boss battles which add some diversity and additional challenge through out the game.

But this game isn't perfect. Oh god there are so many visual and mechanical bugs inside the levels. Sometimes the camera just goes inside the wall, sometimes you can't see the background or even platforms you are supposed to jump in, and sometimes when you are supposed to perform a specific action you just instantly drop through the floor or get stuck inside a wall and die horribly.

Inside the main game there is also a "mini-game" of sort. You raise these creatures called "Chao" and compete with them in different kinds of races. The Chao-dudes hatch from eggs, and you can give them crystals and animals that you collect from the main levels in the game. The Chaos grow stronger and you can race with them. The stronger they are, the better are your chances to win with them. There is also a huge diversity in appearances with the Chaos. I really think this whole "Chao" -thing adds quite a good amount of diversity and replay value to the game.

Chao

Then there is the multiplayer mode. Personally, I think the race mode where you pick a stage you want and try to get to the end of the level faster than your friend (opponent), is definitely the best one of the multiplayer modes. Unfortunately there aren't too many stages to choose from, and you are forced to play the same stages again and again. After a short while it starts to feel really repetitive really fast.

There is also a "Treasure hunt" -mode and "Battle" -mode. In the treasure hunt mode you choose one of the 4 available characters (same applies to all multiplayer game modes) and try to find a hidden treasure using your pulsating and color changing crystal shaped radar-kind of thing. When you are really far from the treasure, the radar is gray, and when you get closer and closer to the treasure, colors change from gray to green, yellow and red. Player who finds the most treasures before the timer hits zero, wins.

Then the Battle mode.

In Battle mode you try to finish off your opponent by shooting him and using different kinds of "special weapons" which you can use by collecting rings in the arena type stage.
You can also race with the machine-like battle mode characters in some stages, but I would not recommend it. Racing in this mode is pretty much just a horrible version of the other multiplayer game mode.

You can also use different kinds of special skills in all of the multiplayer modes and try to fuck with your opponent.

TL;DR

Pros:

• diverse
• different game modes
• the Chao "mini-game"
• multiplayer racing is pretty fun...

Cons:

• ...For a short while.
• extremely linear
• all game modes are full of visual and mechanical bugs
• special attacks in the race mode (IMO)
• camera. Nuff said.

I rate this game 3 Teemos out of Heimerdinger.


Review by William Paavolainen

Crash Bandicoot 3 - Review

Hello i was testing Crash Bandicoot with PS3. Crash Bandicoot is 3D platformer that was published in 1998 by Naughty Dogs and Sony Computer Entertainmentin.
Game is about playing character named crash and trying to defeat evil doctor Cortex.
Crash gets different abilities after going further in the game and you have to use those abilities to get on. Also player gets known to play with Coco (Crash sister).
Playing game was bit hard because controllers were late, probably because of television?

Outlook of the game is pretty shit compared to new games with better graphics. But as i keeped playing i get used to graphics and controllers. Game has different maps to play from platformer to driving with motorbike, it was good that theres something else than jumping only. I like the idea that you have to collect "Power crystals" to get next stages and closer to the boss. Theres boxes to collect and allmost every box contains apples called wumpa-fruit(100Apples = +1Life). Theres five different places to missions and every place has five stages. After completing stages every place has an "mini" boss to defeat to get closer last boss.

So far that I tested game was interesting, funny and easy to get in to it. Menus are easy to use and simple instructions make it easy to know where you should go next. Audio's in the game is awesome and keeps player happy, even when bad things happens to player. I like the idea of the game to destroy evil doctor that plants tnt and nitro bombs all over the maps. Only bad thing is there wasnt multiplayer mode. Game has great bonus stages and levels that even when the last boss is defeated there opens 5 more bonus stages. So when player gets bored to driving motorbike or jumping, player can also go fly plane or drive Jet ski in some stages. Best thing is that after completing one level it unlocks one power ability to the player and it lasts rest of the game, so if you wanna do time runs on stages some power abilities can make it easier and helps you to get some secret places.

If i have to give this stars from 0/5 i would give game 4 stars because it keeps player excited and it aint too hard or easy. Funny game in everyway.

Review by Tommi Johansson

Styx: Master of Shadows

Styx: Master of Shadows is an rpg infiltrator game based on a goblin named Styx, surprising enough, that is also playing a part in a game called Of Orcs and Men, of which events are based 200 years after the events of the Master of Shadows.

The story of Styx and his origin are central elements in Master of Shadows. The game starts abruptly with Styx being caught and brought up for interrogation administrated by the Governor and his son. Why is Styx inside the tower? What does he want from there? These are questions the player answers through playing Styx through his little story. 

Styx: Master of Shadows, being an rpg infiltrator game, is focused on stealth and stealthiness. Because of this there are many missions where the player notices that brute force isn't the answer, as our little goblin friend is quite vulnerable to pointy swords and crossbows. But what the game loses in the perspective of brute force, is added up in stealth and little inherited magical abilities. There are number of ways to dispose the players enemies through different ways. You can summon a goblin mirror of yourself and order it to hide in a chest to lay and wait patroling guards that are snapped and killed and ultimately hidden inside the chest after the mirror goblin catches them, or if you so wish, you can poison the food or water supplies, throw daggers from a distance and dispose your enemies with more subtlety. It is important to hide dead bodies as some missions can't be completed if they are spotted.

As the game leans heavily on stealthiness, it is important to tread carefully and watch your step. The game features a lightning system that is a key in succeeding with your sneaky habits. Torches are better unlit than lit. There is everything needed for the player to feel like an assassin.

What makes the game fun you might ask? Happy news for some, but this game doesnt hold your hands too much. Even on normal it is quite challenging and some levels and missions do take some time when you err and learn from them. And if you do dare to try the Goblin difficulty, where every hit made against you literally one hits you, you might shed a tear. Or maybe more. But hardcoreness notwithstanding it is fun to dispose your enemies in numerous different ways and sneak forward and listen your enemies rather funny conversations.

For a 2014 game the graphics are rather mediocre taking count the game is written on Unreal Engine 4, but they are beautiful in their own way. It is also easily ran on a little slower computer, which is a good thing and signs of excelent optimization. I can't really comment on the story of the game as I am rather biased as I liked Of Orcs and Men, so I have certain expectations and presumptions of it, but that much I can say, that it is worth playing. Our goblin Styx ain't that heartless after all.

If you like games like Thief and Metal Gear Solid, you might like Styx: Master of Shadows, even though it might not be up to par with game like Metal Gear Solid in terms of content and depth.

Review by: Jani Ahde

Exercise 4: Finnish Spring Road Rage

During our game design class we had an exercise to design a car game onto mobile platform that emphasizes on the lovely condition of Finnish roads during springtime.

The design emphasized on controls, user interface and monetization of the game.

So we came up with a game called Finnish Spring Road Rage (This name is temporal).

Features:

The game contains player car that moves along the road.

There are also hazards on the road e.g animals, other cars and because its spring and we are talking about Finnish roads, the road has different conditions like rupture, snow, sand and water and crashed cars and dead animals. No one likes dead foxes on front bumpers.

Controls:
The screen can either be horizontal or vertical, it doesn't change controls anyway.

The player's car changes line through touching of either side of the screen. You touch left side of the screen, your car interpolates to the left side of the road, and if you touch right, it interpolates to the right side of the road.

Because the player car has constant force moving it forward, the player can only accelerate and slowly brake back to the normal speed.

Road hazards can disable the ability to control your car temporarily.

Pause button is DLC: 0.19$ -this is a joke-