Presentation Critiques #4 [end]

Aquila
Mechanics:
• Model: digital prototype, multiplayer over an internet connection. Use keyboard arrow keys to move airplane/soldier and click on enemy piece to fire at them.
• Rules: did not tell/show instructions to participants.
• Balanced game: I remember trying out their game in class. This incarnation of it was pretty hard, I thought –I was really outnumbered.

Dynamics:
• Strategy emerges –when would it benefit me most to move/use my airplane?
• Would be nice to see a variety of weapons from foot soldiers and planes; right now, all that is different is the level of HP each one has. Soldiers could use cluster bombs, assault rifles, etc while planes could have rpgs, etc.
• Problems: could pile up units on top on one another (the one behind would disappear); controls/enemy & player stats were confusing. What would be helpful is some coding that detects occupied positions and forces the player to move elsewhere. For the controls and stats, these are a matter of changing UI and including instructions at the beginning of the game.

Aesthetics:
• Power/strategy based game.
• Very basic-looking art presented via screenshots at this point, though I’ve seen the team’s more advanced game art (looks cool).
• Emotional response: the playtest group seemed to enjoy it, once they got over their confusion.

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Legend of Chopstick Chung
Mechanics:
• Model: digital prototype. First person POV, objective is to kill as many flies as possible using the mouse to click on them. Series of mini games.
• Rules: unclear if they were mentioned to playtest group. Maybe they were displayed on the laptop?
• Balanced game: seems balanced, assuming the mini games get harder as the player goes on.

Dynamics:
• Fun, simple mechanic that is highly addictive and immerses the player.
• If the whole game is a lot of mini games put together, is there enough variety?
• Problems: needs better graphics; player could not identify with character; hard to control chopsticks. The graphics problem is understandable (it’s a prototype after all) so this is probably easy to solve. Identifying with the character could be helped if the team develops the story well enough, and controlling chopsticks is a matter of re-tuning the current system.

Aesthetics:
• Challenge/action -based game.
• Haven’t seen much art so far, only a screencap.
• Emotional response: the playtest group seemed to really enjoy it.

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Deep Field
Mechanics:
• Model: physical prototype. Player (me!) pushes ball away to “repel” it (keep it from doing damage to self) then takes ball and throws it at the targets (gates) to score points. AI comes from four directions (N, S, E, W).
• Rules: explained face to face. 3 sessions, each revised.
• Balanced game: at times, the game gets hard, although this might be because it’s a physical prototype.

Dynamics:
• Hitting the targets as accurately and quickly as possible. My aim is pretty poor, so I had to throw multiple times to hit one target.
• Repelling the AI attacks as quickly as possible –level progression = more enemies.
• Problems: the game could use more variety. Each AI attack could, for example, have a different effect on the player (eg: slow down player movement).

Aesthetics:
• Challenge-based game.
• Art not seen (they disregarded it). It’d be hard to see art in a physical prototype as well.
• Emotional response: takes a bit of getting used to, but I found I really enjoyed it.

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Dynasty
Mechanics:
• Model: paper prototype. Grid map, with the player physically moving their piece on the game board. Educational game, covers 5 dynasties of China. Looks a little like Minesweeper. Objective: complete the URL and go to the site.
• Rules: printed on an instruction sheet/told by team. 3 sessions.
• Balanced game: balanced. Looks simultaneously cute and fun.

Dynamics:
• Element of chance: random monsters pop up and the player would have to fight them.
• Maybe having a multiplayer co-op mode might be fun…ie: each person has to find 5 pieces of a puzzle and add them together.
• Problems: initially, the game looks complicated; a bit slow paced. The team could fix these problems by introducing a tutorial at the beginning of the game to ease the players into it, as well as make more create a more interesting story and missions in the game.

Aesthetics:
• Puzzle/adventure/story-based game.
• Cute art style typically found in RPGs.
• Emotional response: the playtest group had some trouble with the dead ends (confusion and frustration) but seemed to enjoy the game when they found pieces of the URL (rewarded).