Core Gameplay Loop(s)

This week I focused on defining the Core Gameplay Loops, namely:

• Main Gameplay Loop – The player must explore the environment, collect food and water to assure the maintenance of his health and find or build shelter to spend the night.

• Specific Gameplay Loops – Such as the fight with a wild animal, eating an animal and solving a puzzle.

Domain Analysis

This week I defined play scenarios and analyzed references from the domain that can be used as a source of inspiration for the development of the game, per example:

• Man vs. Wild – Bear Grylls is left stranded in a region and each episode documents his efforts to survive and find a way back to civilization, usually requiring an overnight shelter of some kind. Mostly there are wild terrains – jungles, forests or similar non-urban areas.
• Cast Away – The film depicts the character abandoned on an uninhabited island after his plane crashes in the South Pacific and his attempts to survive on the island using remnants of his plane’s cargo. He searches for food, water, and shelter, and opens the packages, making use of several items. Years later, the main character has adapted to the island’s meager living conditions, having become adept at spearing fish and making fires.
• Lost – The TV show follows the survivors of a plane crash on a mysterious tropical island somewhere in the South Pacific Ocean.  The survivors are forced to work together since their survival is threatened by several mysterious entities.
• The Island – The survival skills reality television series follows fourteen men that are dropped on a deserted island, where they must work together to survive. The men struggle to find fresh water while battling exhaustion and dehydration and grow desperate for food, and the mental and physical challenges take their toll on the participants.

Player Personas

My focus these last couple days was to define our game’s Player Personas. Defining a game audience is also about getting a clear image of whom you are creating a game for. Player personas help to get our audience clear and allows us to check if our choices are right. Therefore, based on the knowledge gathered from the potential players and the target audience, the following personas were defined and represent the players of our game.

Persona 1
Name: Sebastião Ribeiro             
Gender: Male  
Age: 26
Background: Lives in Sintra and played games all his life.             
Profession: Student, works part-time in a restaurant.    
Favorite Games: Last of US, Don’t Starve, Skyrim, Journey.         
Currently Playing: Witcher 3, The Forest              
Player type: Seeker, Survivor    
Interests: Books and TV Shows (his favorite is Game of Thrones).            
Context of play: Plays every week and likes to play solo games at his own pace.
Goals: Gets involved in the storyline of the game and wants to see it through.  
Activities: Reading, playing guitar and playing games     
Knowledge: Knows some games, mostly finds new games by a friend’s recommendation.           
Skills: Good at writing and swears he is a great singer in the shower.     
Limitations: Has trouble remembering a lot of details.

Persona 2
Name: Joana Ferro         
Gender: Female              
Age: 23
Background: Born in Espinho and lives in Lisboa.             
Profession: Student and part-time worker at the Human Resources department of her university.
Favorite Games: Shadow of the Colossus, Zelda
Currently Playing: Skyrim            
Player type: Seeker       
Interests: Travelling and watching movies.         
The context of play: Plays alone at home, mostly at the weekends.        
Goals: Plays to relax.     
Activities: Studying and play sports.       
Knowledge: Doesn’t keep up with the gaming world.     
Skills: Has a good memory.        
Limitations: Has a poor sense of orientation.

Persona 3
Name: António Verde
Gender: Male
Age: 16
Background: Born in Lisboa and played games since he was young.
Profession: High school student
Favorite Games: Resident Evil, Outlast, Rust
Currently Playing: The Forest
Player type: Survivor
Interests: Music and gaming.
Context of play: Plays almost every day at home, either with his friends or alone.
Goals:  Likes the adrenaline and tenseness of survival games.
Activities: Gaming
Knowledge: Is always on top of the latest gaming news.
Skills: Patience and good decision-making.
Limitations: Depends on his parents to buy games.

Persona 4
Name: Jorge Caldeira    
Gender: Male  
Age: 43
Background: Lives in Lisbon       
Profession: Mathematics professor       
Favorite Games: The Talos Principle, Braid, Chess           
Currently Playing: Candy Crush 
Player type: Mastermind            
Interests: Travelling, swimming and drinking wine.         
Context of play: Plays daily, mostly in public transportation or after dinner.       
Goals: Plays mostly to unwind and for the fun of solving problems.        
Activities: Solve problems, volunteer at the local hospital.           
Knowledge: Doesn’t have a wide knowledge of the gaming area and finds games by recommendation of colleagues or by web searches.           
Skills: Good at problem-solving, logical reasoning and devising strategies.           
Limitations: Has difficulties playing fast pace games.

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.

Building a Prototype

This week I built a low-fidelity prototype of the island to explore potential solutions and required elements to realize the experience goals of the game, namely the exploration experience. The player should explore the island and perform challenges to discover clues that lead to the ultimate conclusion: what happened to civilization. During the exploration, the player would be always on the verge of survival.

Physical Prototype

Unity Prototype

Visual References

I was responsible for researching the visual references of the game. We aim to create an exploration and survival game set on an abandoned island. Therefore, the visual references include several ecology and geology references, namely a lot of green landscape and rock formations, rendered in bright hues.
The island should be perceived as a tourist experience, creating an engaging experience for the player. The player should hear the sounds of nature, birds, running water and their own footsteps. The player should see the dense forest, the bright sun or the water reflections. The player should move through trails, ruins and modern adaptations of ancient temples.