week 5

Game Review:
Alan Wake [Xbox 360]

Alan Wake is a third person action thriller.
Story:
The plot follows Alan Wake once a very successful (fictional) thriller author who has been going through a drought of inspiration and believes if he gets away from it all (the big city) and relaxes, he can eventually get the inspiration he needs to write his next big seller. He and his wife Alice go to the sleepy town of Bright falls.

Alan is getting his cabin set up for the night when Alice starts to pressure him into writing a new novel. Alan and Alice have a fight, Alan decides to go outside into the dark knowing Alice will not follow him because she is petrified of the dark. To his horror he hears her screams and sees something dark and vague dragging her into the lake and then he dives in after her...

Next thing he knows he wakes up from a car crash and into a nightmare, eventually discovering that he has missed a week with has no recollection of the event and nobody believes him that the darkness and shadows that had taken his wife are is also taking some of the towns folk.  

He must fight the darkness to save Alice.

The story of Alan Wake is a doozy... although it follows the 5 act structure it is designed to feel like a tv show where Alan Wake self narrates the story and there is TV show like endings,  along with the mechanic of finding the collectible manuscript that strangely is describing the exact events of the game (future and past) that he mysteriously wrote but can't remember. These are unusual story telling mechanics and techniques which is refreshing but somewhat strange at the same time.

 Yet the quality and style of the script gives more of an intense thriller novel feel. The horror influences can not be ignored.

This is a game that relies heavily on its narrative and quality of the story and the voice actors which when all of these things have combined they have done a phenomenal job.


Mechanics:
The core mechanics of Alan Wake, are the minute to minute game-play of Combat, minor puzzle solving and minor platforming. The combat relies solely on the light v.s. dark theme where Alan must burn away the shadow before he can kill the enemy by shooting them or use a variety of light based weaponry such as a flare or flash-bang grenade etc. Alan can also ignore the fight and just run to the next safe zone this also provides an intense situation where the player must take care not to let Alan run out of breath before he gets to the next safe zone.

The controls are very tight and responsive and although there is no aiming reticule unlike most third person actions the use of the torch works well as the aiming mechanic and helps bring an extra level of immersion.

The platform and jumping can be a bit awkward at times where it is hard to judge a jump but it is not too frustrating. This puzzles are very simple which was annoying however they weren't the main focus.

Aesthetics:
The aesthetics of Alan Wake are above average as the characters are all very interesting and some areas have been very carefully detailed with lots of "mis en scene" giving these areas a lived in feel adding to the life of that environment however much of the game is spent in the forest environment
where all the trees and rocks look pretty much the same and although it can be argued that the designers wanted the players to feel lost and alone, this setting is used too much.

One interesting decision was the addition of a very minimalist mini-map which although it is very helpful it does break the immersion when they have already cleverly weaved your next goal (travel towards the nearest safe light) so into the environment i.e. You are in the forest and see a lit up petrol station, combine that with the narration of the main character "I needed to get to the gas station it was the only safe place I could see".

I guess this was added in for players who lost there way I believe this should be turned of by default and allow the player to turn it on if they choose.

There are a lot of interesting collectibles in the game raging from the items that are purely for the achievements(coffee mugs) all the way to the expertly voiced (night radio shows) these add an incredible sense of atmosphere.

Technology:
The technology (by the most recent standards) stacks up quite good with excellent lighting and shadow effects which is essential in this game and spectacular particle effects of the sparks, flares and explosions. Which is best seen when the game goes slow motion after a successful dodge.
What is lacking however is the sometimes lacklustre facial animations with the current technology of games like Mass effect and L.A. Noire it is sometimes irritating to be broken from the rich immersion with strange facial animations.

Overall:
A very refreshing spooky, intelligent, mysterious action thriller.


Make Game: (Twist a Nursery Rhyme)
Humpty Dumpty Remix

1.   Define the SPACE
Similar to snakes and ladders except we have modified it to  be the players must climb a wall and use vines to climb up and yolk to slide down.

2.   List the OBJECTS (and their attributes)
Objects are Yolk, Vines and wall

 

3.   Define the player ACTIONS
Players move up the board and hope to gain the boosts and avoid the pitfalls to reach the end first.

4.   List the RULES
Players use 2 dice to move forward and if they land on a (start of) a vine or yolk they must go up or down respectively, If a player lands on a Blue square they must pick up a card, they then have the choice to give the card to another player or take it themselves. These cards have a variety of positive, negative and game changing effects. If a player lands on another player the player who was in that square originally must 

5.   List the SKILLS
There is no skill as this game is purely about chance.

6.   Clarify the unpredictable aspects – is there any CHANCE in this game?
The game is purely based on chance this is primarily to do with the dice roll followed by the cards and although the player gets the choice to take or give the card to another player there is no skill in this action it is still based of chance and luck. 

7.   Sketch a SCREEN – visuals communicate

8.   Present the concept
   The concept is a brand new twist on the classic snakes and ladders using the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme as the backdrop. 

Escape Game Continued:
We finished writing the room description but we soon realised that until we got a play-test of players who had never played the game we couldn't  really get a proper feel for how it would work and also the replay value.