Game Narrative | Sketchbook

2 brothers are walking through the forest when they come across an abandoned building (Mansion), Tom (the little brother) gets curious and begins to walk closer John (the big brother) shouts for Tom to stop/ slow down but then suddenly a thick dark fog surrounds John as he hears his little brother scream. After a while the fog disperses and John can see Tom being pulled/ dragged towards the house, Tom begins to run towards the house as he brakes the door down and sees a hallway with stairway. John must search through the how and save his little brother.

Gameplay wise it'll be similar to Resident Evil, Last Of Us by that I mean it'll have inventory management like the resident evil franchise, you'll also be able to distract people with bottles, bricks and stones. The Target audience for my game is 18+ since its going to be a horror/ thriller game.

Noticeable Game Rule

The game rule I’m using is the air filters from the Metro series, the Metro series is first person survival horror game set in a post nuke/ apocalyptic world more specifically the ruins of Moscow. The survivors of the nukes live in the underground metro tunnels, the games are based off Novels by the same name written by Dmitry Glukhovsky.

Throughout the game the player will come across parts where the player will need to use a gas mask to protect them from the Radioactive air, to counter this the player can find filters throughout the game. When a player comes to one of the radioactive areas the player will need to use the gas mask and apply a filter so they can make it through the area, while wearing the gas mask the filter will lose durability. The character the player controls has a wristwatch which allows the player to see how much time they have left on a filter before having to switch it out for a new one. If they player doesn’t have a filter, they won’t be able to progress through the game until they find one or buy one from the many NPCs in the game.

Essay Draft 2

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is and open-world, Action-adventure, Fantasy, role-playing game, it was created by Bethesda Game Studios and Published by Bethesda Softworks, it got a 10/10 from Eurogamer and was called a “Masterpiece”, it was released on the 11th of November 2011 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC then later Re-Released as Skyrim Special Edition on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is and action open-world roleplaying game which can be played from a first or third person perspective, Skyrim offers a vast open world which can be explored from the start after a short introduction, the player is given the option to create their own character from the start of the game with the game offering a wide variety of options, these include having the option to play as different race, such as Elf, Breton, Human or even anthropomorphic cat or lizard like creatures.

Skyrim.

“EPIC FANTASY REBORN
The next chapter in the highly anticipated Elder Scrolls saga arrives from the makers of the 2006 and 2008 Games of the Year, Bethesda Game Studios. Skyrim reimagines and revolutionizes the open-world fantasy epic, bringing to life a complete virtual world open for you to explore any way you choose.”- Bethesda Softworks, 2011

Skyrim Special Edition

“Winner of more than 200 Game of the Year Awards, Skyrim Special Edition brings the epic fantasy to life in stunning detail. The Special Edition includes the critically acclaimed game and add-ons with all-new features like remastered art and effects, volumetric god rays, dynamic depth of field, screen-space reflections, and more. Skyrim Special Edition also brings the full power of mods to the PC and consoles. New quests, environments, characters, dialogue, armor, weapons and more – with Mods, there are no limits to what you can experience.”- Bethesda Softworks, 2016

In Skyrim there are 6 difficulty settings in Skyrim these are Novice, Apprentice, Adept, Expert, Master and finally legendary each increasing the amount of dmg you take and each decreasing how much dmg you deal.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim sees the player play as the Dragonborn, The Dragonborn also known as Dovahkiin are individuals who look mortal and have the blood and soul of a dragon, Dragonborns absorb the powers of defeated dragons, many dragonborn appear at desperate times.

As many games and with games as large and complex as Skyrim, there are bugs. Some are minor, like dead bodies jittering madly or poking through walls. Your hands may momentarily disappear, equipping an armored face mask may turn you into an invisible man, and mammoths may soar into the air for no apparent reason as well as the famous giant lunching the player into the sky.

There are no set classes in Skyrim however if you wanted to only play as a wizard for example that is possible, the player is given full rein in what they wanted to do, there are 3 main attributes these are health, stamina and magika. Health deals with survivability, Stamina deals with how much you can carry and for how long you can sprint for and Magika deals with how much magic (MP) you have, the more magic (MP) you have the longer you can use magic. There are 18 skills divided evenly among the 3 different schools, Combat, Magic and Stealth. Players earn exp which contributes to your main level but there so also exp which goes towards the certain skills you use for example the more you use a one-handed weapon the skills associated with that will also level up.

There are many different types of combat such as swords, daggers, ranged and magic.

One-handed: These include swords, daggers and staffs, with these being one-handed have the option to dual wield them, for example a sword and staff.

Two-handed: These include Warhammers, Great swords and Battleaxes, with these being two-handed you are no longer able to dual wield.

Ranged: These include crossbows and regular bows as the category suggests these weapons can be used at range, these use ammo for the bows your use arrows and for the crossbow you use bolts.

Armour/ Clothing is another major mechanic in the game there are 3 types of Armour these are Heavy, Medium and Light and Clothing. Clothing has no impact on gameplay and grants no bonuses however some pieces of clothing can be enchanted.

There are 3 types of armour heavy, medium and light. As the name suggests Heavy Armour is the heaviest but also grants the most defense, while medium is the middle ground between heavy and light, making it so you can still take damage and not have to worry about the weight. Light Armour offers the least amount of defense but it’s the lightest meaning it will take the least amount of inventory space.

Crafting also plays another part in the game these can either be making new weapons and amour, making potions, cooking, enchanting and mining.

Forge/Smithing: Throughout the game you’ll come across many towns and cities in these you can find a blacksmith where you can use the workbench to enhance your Armour, you can also find a grindstone which is used to enhance your weapons and finally you will also find a forge where you can make your own Armour and weapons.

Making potions: Through the game you’ll come across inns in these you can find crafting tables, here you can put ingredients together and depending on the ingredients used you’ll get a different result/ potion. Throughout the game you can find notes with certain ingredients know as recipes which can help you make the potion you want, there is a function where if you eat ingredients to learn the side effects.

Game Design Document (GDD)

Original GTA GDD

For my GGD analysis I chose the Game Design Document for the original concept for the Grand Theft Auto series.

As a big GTA fan I was happy to read the GDD for the original concept, I was surprised to find out that Grand Theft Auto wasn’t the original name and instead Race’n’Chase.

The original name from where GTA was born from was Race’n’Chase, the concept for Race’n’Chase was a fun, addictive and a fast multiplayer game that’s set in the present day (1995), it was going to include 3 different cities with their own graphic style. The platforms it was going to be released on were PC DOS, PC Windows 95, Playstation, Saturn and the Ultra 64 later known as the Nintendo 64.

Compared to the Actual release of Race’n’Chase later and now famously known as Grand Theft Auto its identical, they kept the original multi city idea including Liberty City (New York), Vice City (Miami) and San Andreas (San Francisco) each player must earn a certain amount of money to progress to the next stage/ City.

From what I’ve read of the GDD it isn’t the most detailed GDD out there its very straight to the point, however that helps with getting their point and view across as it will keep people’s attention, since long descriptions could start boring people. With it being in mostly bullet points it allows them to use it as bounce points and what I mean by this is it allows them to bounce ideas/ talking points.

After reading the GDD I think that its well-made, it clearly shows the path they intended to go and shows what they wanted to achieve, the only criticism I have is I would’ve preferred for them to maybe go into a bit more detail into the types of cities they wanted to build etc, but other than that I was happy to see where GTA originated.

Final Essay