Contemporary Game Assignment

Albert Hsieh Candy Crush Saga

What platform is used to play the game?

MAC

What is the objective of the game?

The purpose of the game is to connect 3 of the same candies in a row to score points, your job is to score a certain amount of points within a limit of moves (1 move = moving one piece of candy).

What three things do you like about the game?

  1. The art style
  2. The simplicity
  3. The speed of the game

What three things did you not like about the game?

  1. The pay to win play style
  2. The disgusting overuse of “cute”
  3. The lack of an actual story

List three reasons why you think this game is popular and successful

1.Its fast

2.Its simple

3.Its addictive

The plan

To make candy crush better they should remove the life system. Its pointless why try 3 times then instead of paying just wait a for a couple of hours and try again? Instead make the game more difficult but make it so they lose near the end not the beginning. But, keep advertisements, without limits on lives the players will keep trying the difficult levels they will think “I almost had it!” and keep on trying over and over getting more playtime which means more time for advertisements which just so also means more money made.

MDA Framework and Genre

Mechanics

The basics of how the game works. Its the guidelines, what the payer can do with it, and the games guts (algorithms and data structure).

Dynamics

How the games mechanics work with the player.

Aesthetics

the emotion provoked from the player by playing the game.

Eight Type of Aesthetics:

  1. Sensation (Game as sense-pleasure): Player experiences something completely unfamiliar.
  2. Fantasy (Game as make-believe): Imaginary world.
  3. Narrative (Game as drama): A story that drives the player to keep coming back
  4. Challenge (Game as obstacle course): Urge to master something. Boosts a game’s replayability.
  5. Fellowship (Game as social framework): A community where the player is an active part of it. Almost exclusive for multiplayer games.
  6. Discovery (Game as uncharted territory): Urge to explore game world.
  7. Expression (Game as self-discovery): Own creativity. For example, creating character resembling player’s own avatar.
  8. Submission (Game as pastime): Connection to the game, as a whole, despite of constraints.

    Notes:

    Good game design is finding a way to connect with your player. Try to use genres to push the point of your game. Use genres to fill in holes that other genres lack the ability to fill. Always know why your combining your genres