Homework 6

Assassins Creed – the series

1 ) The Tetrad 

1.1 Mechanics

The mechanics of Assassins creed are very different from other games. The series is famous for using stealth and strategy with parkour. So, basically you can climb any building in the game, and you can use it to make surprising attacks or to run from enemies. Also, stealth is very important in this game. If you are detected by your enemies, it is harder to accomplish your goals and in some missions you can fail if you were detected. Finally, strategy is another important point. The player has several options to accomplish a mission and it is up to the player decide which one he wants to use. You can adopt a more stealthy or aggressive style of play. Each player can choose the style of playing that fits to him. However, in some missions the player is obligated to fulfill the mission in a particular way.

1.2 Story

The Assassin's Creed games primarily revolves around the rivalry between two ancient secret societies: the Assassins and the Knights Templar. The game is settle in our period of time, the 21 century, but, you spend most time of the game playing in historical periods of time. This is possible because the megacorporation Abstergo industries, the modern-day face of the knights Templar, created a machine called “animus” that can make the main character relive the memories of his ancestors. The main character of the game is called Desmond and he is descent of the assassin’s society. He was kidnapped by Abstergo industries, so they can make him use the machine to relive memories from his ancestors.

1.3 Aesthetics

The aesthetics of this game are so well build that sometimes you can believe that the two secret societies existed. The way that this series mixed real facts of the history with the fiction of the game, created a very powerful aesthetics, and you can confirm it by the success of this series in the game market. Also, the details that the historical periods were represented, like the buildings, the cloths, the weapons, were very concise with the story of the game and the real history.

1.4 Technology

The technology of the game is another point that support the aesthetics. The game floats in two periods of time. Our time and a historical time, when you are using the animus machine. Each period of time are very different from each other, and the technology helps to make the distinction between the ages. For example, if you are playing in the historical period you will have to use knifes, swords, very primitive guns, and stuff like that, because these were the technology of the period. So, all the Tetrad is very concise and well-built with the story of the game.

2) Balance

The game is very well balanced. As I mentioned in the mechanics, there is several ways of doing a mission, and each way causes a different reaction in the game. For example, for some missions, it will be better to use the stealth instead of being discovered and try to kill all the enemies. You can use either way, but if you choose to be discovered and kill all the enemies, the mission will be much harder, than if you tried to do it using stealth.

3) Emergent Properties

There are a bunch of emergent properties in this game. Each action that you choose will have influence in the playability and this covers since each weapon to use, or each way to choose. Also, this actions have influence in the balance of the game too, because depending of your choice, your experience could be harder or easier, and this is something that you learn while you are playing the game. Moreover, I think that it makes the game adaptable to each different player, and this is something good because you can expand your game to more different styles of players.

4) Interest curves

I will talk about my experience playing this series. I started to play the third game of the series called Brotherhood, so I didn’t know the story from the first games. But when I finished the game, I became a fan. They finished with an epic climax, and also letting in the air clues about the next game. I remember being very excited to play the next game. Also, some moments after finishing the game I went to Google to search more about this series and discover more about the story. So, I am pretty sure that this game follow the concept of the interest curves, and I think that my experience is a real proof of it.

5) Why I liked this game

Assassin’s creed – Brotherhood was the first game of this series that I played and I loved it. I remember that I was fascinated with the story of the game and how UbiSoft mixed fantasy with real history. The fact that I really enjoy studying history helped to get in love with this series. Also, I enjoy the mechanics of the game. The fact that you can accomplish the same mission in different ways is another point that I admire in this kind of game.  Moreover, I am a huge fan of open world games and adventure too. So this series have a lot of components together that I enjoy in games and that is why I really like this whole series.

Mass Effect – The series

1) The Tetrad

1.1 Mechanics

Mass effect is a shooter game. You have the basics mechanics of a shooter game, but they also implemented a system of progression of the characters. So it is a mixed between shooter and RPG game. As you advance in the game, characters will gain experience points which can be used to increase the damage of weapons or the life of the characters. It is up to the player define which attributes are better to increase according to his strategy of playing. Also, you play with a team. You control the main character and the PC control the order two members of your team, but you, as the leader of the group, could give instructions to your team, like where to stay in combat, or which enemies to attack. As you can see, you have strategy as part of the mechanics too.

1.2 Story

This series is a science fiction series. So the game is set in the future in which the galaxy is populated by several different species throughout its vastness. The galactic community partitioned the Milky Way into 5 different sectors, known as the Terminus Systems, the Attican Traverse, Inner and Outer Council Space, and Alliance Space. Earth is a significant setting particularly in the third installment, and another highly culminating setting is the space station known as the Citadel. The game focuses on the protagonist, Commander Shepard, and his or her quest to stop the rogue Spectre Saren Arterius from leading an army of sentient machines, called the Geth, to conquer the galaxy. During pursuit of Saren, Shepard learns of a far greater threat in the form of the Reapers. Saren has been mentally enslaved by the Reaper vanguard Sovereign, and sent into Citadel Space to initiate the purge of all advanced sentient life in the galaxy, a cycle repeated by the Reapers every 50,000 years.

1.3 Aesthetics

This is another game that have a well-built aesthetics to support the story. Because this game is set in the future, the player has access to future guns, spaceships (to travel around the universe), special powers (each specie has a special power), etc. BioWare, which is the company that developed this series, created a bunch of species to dwell the galaxy and to support the story. When I played this game, I was very impressed with the quality of the details that it has.

1.4 Technology

As mentioned before, this series is set in the future of our history. So, the technology chose to this game was based in science fiction. You live in an era where travel to a planet to other is quickly as travelling to a city to another in earth. Also, you have the interaction between humans and a bunch of other species that dwell our galaxy. Because it is a science fiction series, the developers had a lot of freedom to create the universe of the game. The species are one example of this freedom. You have the Asari, Drell, Elcor, Hanar, Humans, Keepers, Salarians, Turians and Volus. All them are different and have special abilities. Also, you have a lot of weapons too and you can increase the damage that your character do with each type of weapon when you earn experience points.

2) Balance

The game is well balanced and you can noticed this in the weapons and the characters too. Each weapon does a different percent of damage. Weapons that does more damage has less bullets. Another example are the races. Each race has a special power or ability in the game, and this helps to give balance when you play and also forces the player to construct a strategy while his is playing the game, because some weapons can do more or less damage in specific races.

3) Emergent properties

I think that this series does not have so many emergent properties such as Assassins Creed. However, the player still have a lot of options to choose, and this choices have a direct impact in the story of the game. You have control of the dialogues of the game, so you can influence the story directly when you choose one answer or another. Thus, you have a lot of options regarding weapons and this game use a system of cooperation, with one main character and two other helping him. So, the way that you equip and choose your team can make it stronger or weaker depending on the situation.

4) Interest curves

I think that this series approach well this concept. I played the three games that were launched for this series and each of them had an epic final. Moreover, there was a lot of events that happened during the three games that are unexpected, like an important character dying. Thus, I really think that this kind of events helps the game to be more realistic, like the real life, because in real life, a lot of things that you don’t like happens and you have to deal with it, such as in this game.

5) Why I liked this game or like less

I am not a huge fan of shooter games, but Mass Effect really catch my attention. The mixed between shooter game with RPG elements, strategy and also a very good story make me a huge fan of this series. Now, analyzing it in the view of game design, I can appreciate even more this games, because now, I know a little bit about the concepts of creating a game and the challenges that it involves.

Contributions to team's game

Last week I finished the animation attack for our character and now it is already implemented in our game. This week I started to work in the sounds that we will use in our game in the different environments that we have, like beach, jungle and lava level. So I just downloaded a lot of sounds and started to merge them in Audacity to make it useful to our game.