Competition Review

I performed a review of the competition game in order to identify games that have characteristics similar to ours:

• Rust – The player starts the game naked and clueless, and needs to perform tasks such as chopping trees or smashing rocks to put a small base together. However, he’s always susceptible to wild animals or other dangers. The only aim in Rust is to survive. To do this the player needs to overcome struggles such as hunger, thirst, and cold. Build a fire. Build a shelter. Protect himself from animals and kill them for meat. This game incorporates several elements, mechanics and challenges similar to the ones present in our game concept.

• Ark: Survival Evolved – Besides the typical survival challenges, ARK offers a taming system that contrasts with other survival games, allowing the player to tame dinosaurs and use them as an advantage. Fighting and taming wild animals could be an interesting idea that would add dimension to our project.

• The Forest – This game offers a mysterious and stressful atmosphere with enemies spying silently the player from a distance, leaving him terrified. Since our game scenario will be an abandoned island, incorporating elements from the scenery of this game could be useful.

• Don’t Starve – In this game, the player has to venture out into the wilderness to hunt for resources, namely search for food, gather resources and build tools. Additionally, it’s a race to get to a safe place before the nightfall contributing to the player experience. Every step in the wilderness is a risk but the desire to explore overshadows the fear. In our project, we want to invoce the same desire of exploration.

• Far Cry 3 – This game is set on a tropical archipelago. After a vacation goes terribly wrong, the player finds himself alone on the island and has to escape it and its unhinged inhabitants. Since our game will be set on an abandoned island, incorporating elements from this game could also be useful.

• Astroneer – This isn’t a typical survival game. The player is a scientist, studying new worlds and developing research outposts while exploring space. Integrating challenges related to science and ecology could add to the experience of exploring the abandoned island.