Wildstar
1) The Tetrad
Story:
The story of Wildstar develops around two
intergalactic civilizations, the Dominions and the Exiles. The Dominions are an
empire that conquered the galaxy with by destroying and subjugating
civilizations. As a result they created multiple enemies throughout the galaxy,
a couple of these races banded together and created the Exiles, to protect
their people and fight the Dominion. One of the Exiles explorers, Dorian
Walker, happened to discover a planet called Nexus, habited by the super
advanced Eldan that disappeared from the galaxy long ago. This naturally made
both sides very interested in this planet, and so both the Domions and the
Exiles set course towards Nexus, to conquered at make it their own. That’s
where you come in. You are another citizen from the faction of your choosing
and you must fight for your people and uncover the secrets of Nexus.
Technology:
The game runs in PC and was created using an engine created by the game creators.
Art:
The art is very quirky and but it is also very
cool. It has a very holistic aesthetic, in the sense that the whole game
follows a very consistent theme that gives it its own character. The music is
fantastic and all of the sound effects are pretty amazing. The game in super
high resolution looks great, but sadly the constant server lag makes it a
little bit difficult to play with high settings because it adds to the frame
rate issues and so I usually run it on low graphics. But never the less, the
graphic designers at Carbine Studios know what they are doing. They used an art
stilly that could accommodate the cute and corny on one hand and the awesome
and menacing on the other one. This widens the player base as you can now
attract customers that want one or the other. Another great thing that they
made concerning art is that they created a housing system that works much like
Unreal. In game you can acquire décor items to put on your property and these
items can be scaled and placed where ever the player desires.
Mechanics:
Because this game is an MMORPG it has tons of
mechanics, but I they can be divided into groups. For example the game has
combat mechanics. You have a total of 30 abilities off which you can use a
limited action set off 8 abilities. There is also a stat granting graph on
which you can select a limited amount of nods to infuse your character with new
powers. You can change this options around to create your own custom build that
fits your playstyle. There are also social mechanics, to encourage and
facilitate the interactions between players. These consists mainly on
incentives and barriers that can only be earned and overcome when you find and
train with a group of your own. The game has also crafting mechanics, market
mechanics, and other mechanics that create the illusion of a vibrant world with
infinite possibilities.
2) Balance
A game like this requires balance mainly in two
very important aspects of the game, combat and resources. The combat is the
main gameplay mechanic, so it has to be balanced so that it feels satisfying
but most importantly fair. An unfair combat system, where one class is the king
of all kings, makes for an frustrating experience. This is a problem that
affects the more dedicated part of the community, but I think that this is one
of the most important demographics, as they are the ones that live for and
promote your game. And so it is very important that all classes feel equally
powerful and that the game becomes a exercise of strategic skill and not just
an unfair number check.
The other main component that need constant
balancing is the resource economy. Players need resources to advance in the
game and so MMO designers have to keep in mind that resources need to be
challenging to acquire but not to the point of being frustrating. Another
important thing is that the designers need to create different ways to get this
materials. There can just be one way of getting the materials to advance or
every single person is just going to do that and they are going to get bored
pretty quickly. You need to spread this resources throughout the content that
you think is fun and that is going to engage your player base, so they can feel
like they are having fun as they progress.
3) Emergent properties
This game has tons of emergent
properties, again because it is an MMORPG. The greatest source of emergent
properties is combat. Even though Wildstar combat is not one of the most
complicated ones, it is still complicated enough to make is very difficult for
designers to imagine every single combination possible. That is mainly because,
apart from the previously mentioned abilities that you can chose from, there
are a many stats that can be tweaked to create different combinations. Although
this is a something brings great work to designers it is ultimately very
engaging for players. The most dedicated players enjoy discovering overpowered
combinations that are viable until the designers discover it. It creates a very
interesting dynamic between players and designers.
4) Interest curves
The game can be played many
different ways that have totally different outcomes, but I can retail what I
found to be the interest curves in my experience playing the game. First there
is the discovery phase. This is the part where everything is new and you are
learning all of the different systems and getting a feel for the game. This is
one of the most exciting stages as you find yourself always wanting to get back
to discover something new in the game. Then you start leveling and it all slows
down a bit. You find yourself going around and turning quest, enjoy the music
and the aesthetics, but in a more passive way as you make your way to higher
levels. When you reach level 15 you can start doing group content with other
people. This is the part where the game starts to get hard. Group content on
Wildstar requires coordination and so this part can be either frustrating or
engaging. I found it to be very fun, it encouraged to learn more about the game
and the systems that were behind combat and the monster encounters. This is
another pike in the interest curve and you start to really commit to the game.
Then when you start to get a hang of the group content is starts to become more
second nature and you start to teach other people that come with you to the
group content what you learned when you completed it. After that you start to
reach level 35 you start getting story quests that have a lot of interesting
lore in them. This is when you start learning more about the secrets of Nexus.
This quests are another pike as they are engaging with a lot of cinematics and
voice acting. After this you reach level 50, which is the max level. At this
level you do the hardest content in the whole game. I haven’t done it yet so I
can’t say but it takes a lot of work and practice to get to that content.
5) Explain the reasons you like or dislike the game and relate this to Game Design issues.
I like this game because it is very engaging. The combat is complicated but simple and there is a lot of hand eye coordination skill involved. Also the social aspect is very fun. You find yourself always talking to 10 people at once trying to coordinate to kill a boss or do an adventure. It’s a really big challenge to reach the hardest content in the game, that challenge is what keeps me going personally. The reason why I don’t like this game is that is not very well supported. Their launch was a great success but the player base declined to almost 0 I the months after it launched. Now they relaunched on a free to play model, and up to now they have been pretty successful. I hope that they get more support so they can create more content and fix the technical issues that ruin the immersion in the game.
Darkest Dungeon
1) The Tetrad
Story:
The story is about a noble with a lot of money
that because he was bored with all of the partying he had to endure he decided
that it was a good idea to instead focus on investigating ancient secrets underneath
his mansion. He blows through his savings trying to reach this arcane power
just to find out that it was a dark power that could destroy them all. He runs
from the mansion and writes you a letter as the last heir to the state telling
you to please clean up his mess right before he kills himself. So now you have
to manage what resources you have left and send out heroes to fight for you and
reclaim your lands.
Technology:
The game runs on PC and was created with a custom engine.
Art:
The art style is very grim and it adds to the
gameplay experience in a great way. The game is mainly about the tolls that dungeon
crawling have on heroes and so the art delivers that on that experience. The
music is calm but spooky and everything from the footsteps to the light twiddling
makes it feel like you are really alone in a dungeon filled with monsters.
Mechanics:
On the core this game is mainly a turn base RPG,
but it has many nifty mechanics that add very much to the gameplay experience.
For example, every hero has a stress meter that goes up as they walk, if they
get hit very hard, or with other procs from monsters. When this meter reaches
200 the character gets a resolve check. If he rolls positive then he becomes inspired
and fights on, granting the rest of the party benefits for the fight. If he
rolls negative then he becomes insane and brings the party down with him.
2) Balance
There are many different levels
of encounters and heroes, so they have to be tweaked appropriately for it to be
fair. Personally, I’ve played the game since it got out and it has become much easier
than then. But in the end you have to balance for the regular player so that
more people play your game. There are also many different classes in the game
and these need to be balance to keep the player interested. If there is one
simple answer for what is the best combination to beat the game then you need
to balance the classes more, to encourage your player base to try all of the
content that you have created.
3) Emergent properties
The game doesn’t have many
emergent properties. There is an item system on top of the class system which
adds another layer of depth to the game’s combat. This item list is not that
extensive and so most probably the designers have most of the combinations
figured out, but there is still plenty to choose from. There are tons of ways
to mix and match the different characters that you have, which is the main
source of strategic play in this game.
4) Interest curves
The game starts off with a peak
as it introduces you to the game in the form of a cinematic. Then you reach a
valley as you are learning the ropes and getting to know the mechanics. In my opinion
there is another peak every time you fight a different boss for the first time.
After you beat the bosses the first time you just need to plan your expeditions
well and its smooth sailing from there. The fact that bosses just increase
their stats as you fight stronger versions off them is a little bit disappointing.
Clearing the same boss you cleared the first time but being easier now because
you know how to play is not a very good way to challenge and keep the player interested.
And so the game losses a lot of its edge after that and land into a valley.
5) Explain the reasons you like or dislike the game and relate this to Game Design issues.
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