Homework 6: Chapters 4-5

1. For each of the four elements of the Tetrad, explain how it is addressed by your game. If one of the four elements is not used, please state this. 

• Mechanics: this is basically how the game will be played. The player will control the character in the first person perspective; navigating around the world map the player will look for clues leading to the main story, saving people and essentially rebuilding the town in the process. By avoiding the encroaching fog, the player must collect magical shards that maintains their health.
• Story (self-explanatory): our game centers around a heroine that has been involved in a car accident due to the dangerous fog/smoke that has destroyed the city. The character will have to explore the surrounding areas in order to assess the situation. In order to find her son, the heroine must search the city and, in the process, discover the source of the mysterious fog and save the town. There is a sacred location that is untouched by the fog is the sanctuary since it contains the largest protective ward. 
• Aesthetics: this is essentially the visual imagery of the game as well as what the player experiences. The player will be immersed in a post-disaster setting where they explore the ruined city through very low visibility; the best part for the experience of the player is actually being in first person so everything is up close and personal. A sense of fear will take over the player as they fight to stay alive because of the encroaching fog and creepy music.
• Technology: the only tech being used is the game engine itself (blender) and possibly some python scripts. One addition was added to our game, which was Tree-D, like its name suggests generates realistic tress. It was great.

2. Do the four (or less) elements work towards a current theme?

          

          I believe that our theme coincides with our theme and I can't possibly think of a game that wouldn't follow these four elements, at least not in this class.

3. In your own words, describe the meaning of a "theme", and how does it differ from an "experience" (see book for examples in Chapters 2 and 5.

           Theme is basically the subject or setting given to an activity (i.e. leisure, an exhibition, a piece of writing, etc). In this case, events of the game serve the purpose of other intended venues; usually the theme evokes some sort of relativity with the player like culture for example. Experience is merely the apparatus to implement the theme in.

4. What is your game's theme?

          Our game has multiple themes, but there is one that is the most prevalent and that is moral vs ethical value. The beginning of the game the main character must go through the city, but at the very end she is confronted by the main protagonist and is given the choice to sacrifice the people she saved for her son or vice versa. Fear of the unknown is the next largest theme.

5. What are the elements in your game that are meant to reinforce this theme?

          The elements that reinforce our theme are many, but the biggest would be the "experience". While the playing the game, neither the protagonist nor the player knows the origin or reason for the fog. Adding in the fact that it will be near impossible to see anything beyond a couple steps ahead increase the fear. It is the fear of the unknown that really reinforce the theme.

6. What is it about your game that you feel makes it special and powerful?

          The only thing that made me feel this game special and powerful is the genre, concept and art. Since I'm confident in my artistic abilities I knew that our game would be at least pretty to look at. The other qualities I was sure of were from my teammates because they were amazing when it came to modeling, programming and handling the logic of the game.