Summary
- The Game I chose was Valorant because it has a different play style from any other you were to choose.
Game Play Analysis
| Formal Elements | |
| The Basics | |
| Name of the game | Valorant |
| The platform | Pc only |
| Time played (should be at least 30 minutes) | each game lasts 30-40 minutes and I played one game so that’s the time I spent on it. |
| If you could work on this game (change it), what would you change and why? | There is nothing I would really change about this game because I think if I were to add more guns it would ruin the game which is what happened to “Fortnite” I would maybe just add more agents but they already did that every season which balances the game perfectly but other than that I don’t want to change anything about this game |
| Players | NOTES |
| How many players are supported? | Five players on each side of the team so ten in total. |
| Does it need to be an exact number? | yes the match will not start if there isn’t the same amount of players on each side of the team or else it would be unfair. |
| How does this affect play? | It’s more intense with a 5 v 5 combat because you never know if one player is pushing one site or all of them are it’s basically unpredictable. |
| Some types of player frameworks:Single Player – like Solitare.Head-to-head – 1 vs. 1, Chess.PvE – Player vs. Environment, or multiple players vs. the game. Common in MMOs like World of Warcraft.One against Many – Single-player vs. multiple (obvy).Free-for-all – Every man for himself (1 vs. 1 vs. 1 vs. 1..). Most common for multiplayer games, from Monopoly to Modern Warfare.Individuals Against the System – Like Blackjack, where the Dealer is playing against multiple players, but those players have no effect on each other.Team Competition – Multiple vs. multiple, i.e. sports.Predator-prey – Players form a circle and everyone’s goal is to attack the player on their left and defend themselves from the player on their right.Five-pointed Star – Eliminate both players who are not on either side of you. | Its 5 v 5 gun combat always. |
| Objectives/Goals | NOTES |
| What are the players trying to do? | The players are either trying to defuse or defend the spike (bomb) depending on which side you start on. |
| Some common objectives include:Capture/Destroy – Eliminate all your opponents pieces (Chess).Territorial Acquisition – Control as much territory as you can, not necessarily harming other players (RISK).Collection – Collect a certain number of objects throughout the game (Pokemon).Solve – Solve a puzzle or crime (Clue).Chase/race/escape – Anything where you are running towards or away from something (playground game Tag).Spatial Alignment – Anything involving the positioning of elements (Tetris or Tic-Tac-Toe or that game at Cracker Barrel).Build – Advance your characters or build your resources to a certain point (The Sims).Negation of another goal – The game ends if you perform an act that is forbidden by the rules (Jenga or Twister). | |
| Rules/Mechanics | It’s an FPS game (First Person Shooter) and the mechanics in this game are what makes it better than any other. First off you will never win a fight if you always aiming at the ground its not like “call of duty” where you can just run in a kill people left and right. you always must aim to wear the enemy’s heads are going to be and you never want to push onto a site loud unless you have your whole team and never spray with any type of gun you’re using or for EX: the vandal and phantom are guns you never run and shoot with even with any other gun and if you aim down sights in this game it doesn’t help at all unless your using a specific weapon such as the (Odin, or any sniper rifle) and never spray with any gun unless you need to shoot through boxes to kill or check if there is a player there always tap fight if you’re in a real fight. So you can have the most accurate aim. The most important mechanic in this game is the buying system with the wide and vast varieties of weapons you can buy is mainly what makes the game intriguing and there is money you get within each round depending on whether you die or survive or save or get lots of kills or defuse the bomb there are just many ways you can buy gun and abilities and of course, shields to protect you. |
| There are three categories of (what the book Rules of Play calls) operational rules:Setup – the things you do at the beginning of a game.Progression of Play – what happens during the game.Resolution – How an outcome is determined based on the game state. | If your defending and you need to make sure that the enemy team doesn’t defuse and the bomb goes off you win but let’s say you kill them and defuse then you win the game but this can apply in many other ways to such as your not defending the spike and you let the player defuse while being far away from the bomb you’ll be able to survive if the other player doesn’t find you in time |
| Controls | NOTES |
| What controls are used? | Keyboard controls 3 to pull out your knife, 2 to pull out any pistol of your choice depending on what gun you bought, and 3 to pull out any gun you bought. 4 to plant spike and g to drop spike. C, Q, E, And X for your Ultimate. Each character comes with an ultimate. these are the default controls and the controls I use. |
| Was there a clear introductory tutorial? | yes, it shows the basics of how to shoot move, and use your abilities it was very clear and straightforward. |
| Were they easy to understand or did you find yourself spamming the controller? | It helped but it’s better to have a friend that knows everything about the game and if you spam in this game you either get killed every time or somehow get lucky and kill the person which shouldn’t happen. |
| Resources & Resource Management | NOTES |
| What kinds of resources do players control? | Money is the main resource in this game and it’s a buying system with wide and vast varieties of weapons. This mainly puts the whole aspect into this game which is part of the reason why it’s so intriguing. There is money you get within each round depending on whether you die or survive. There are just many ways you can buy a gun and abilities and of course, shields to protect you. But a lot of people use “saving” if they don’t have enough money to buy an assault rifle. They will buy an SMG as this is much cheaper. |
| How are they maintained during play? | For an EX: If you got a lot of kills in the game and you are winning against the opposing team. you and your team will be rich. This makes it so you will be able to buy just about whatever you want. |
| What is their role? | To help you buy better weapons which will increase your kill rate in-game. |
| A resource is everything under the control of a single player. Could be the money in Monopoly or health in WoW. Other examples are:Territory in RISK The number of questions remaining in 20 Questions Objects picked up during videogames (guns, health packs, etc.)Time (game time, real-time, or both)Known information (like suspects in Clue) | |
| Game State | NOTES |
| How much information in the game state is visible to the player? | It shows your abilities at the center bottom of your screen and on the center-right side, it shows what weapons you have. It also shows, what different agents are on each side, the time you have remaining to get the spike, or the other way around if you’re on the other team. It also shows people talking and which agent is talking/communicating and then the same thing expect in the chat which is for players that do not own a mic/headset. |
| A snapshot of the game at a single point is the game state. The resources you have, the un-owned properties in Monopoly, your opponent’s Archery skill all count towards the game state. Some example information structures are:Total Information – Nothing is hidden, like Chess.Info per player – Your hand of cards is only visible to you.One player has privileged info – Like a Dungeon Master.The game hides info from all players – Like Clue, where no one knows the victory condition.Fog of War – In video games, where certain sections of the map are concealed if you do not have a unit in sight range of that area. You also cannot see other players’ screens, so each player is unaware of the other’s information. | |
| Sequencing | NOTES |
| In what order do players take their actions? | Depending on if they get on to the site and it’s clear they will plant but if not they have to Rotate to other sites. |
| How does play flow from one action to another? | by Rotating or flanking. |
| Some structures include:Turn-based – Standard board game technique.Turn-based with simultaneous play – where everyone takes their turn at the same time (like writing something down or putting a card down in War).Real-time – Actions happen as fast as players can make them. Action-based video games.Turn-based and time limits – You have this long to take your turn. | |
| Player Interaction | fighting |
| Some examples:Direct Conflict – I attack you.Negotiation – If you support me here, I’ll help you there.Trading – I’ll give you this for that.Information Sharing – If you go there, I’m warning you, a trap will go off. | Gun combat, and spray paint which you can put on the ground with a click of a button. You can also jump up and down or crouch and uncrouch. you can even make your agent talk such as: hello, quiet, Go site B, Go site A. |
| Theme & Narrative | NOTES |
| Does it have an actual story structure? | yes, but there isn’t a lot of details on the entire storyline we did get cinematic which helped out lots explaining what’s going on but yes I believe there is, and also you play on big floating islands and that is a big part of it too. |
| Is it based on a historical event (or similar)? | no |
| Does the theme or narrative help you know how to play? | no |
| Does it have emotional impacts? | not at all |
| Also, look for en media res (does it start in the middle of the game)? | no |
| The Elements in Motion | NOTES |
| How do the different elements interact? | moving in loud and everyone using their abilities to get on-site and plant. Also sometimes you have to be really quiet and flank the opposite team. |
| What is the gameplay like? | it is a futuristic-based game and it involves a variety of weapons which makes it a tactical shooter and it even comes with its own special characters corresponding to how you want to play. |
| Is it effective? | yes |
| Are there any points where the design choices break down? | no |
| Design Critique | NOTES |
| Why did the designer make these particular choices? | to make the game more cartoonish and involved with near-future guns to give it a different type of aesthetic. |
| Why this set of resources? | to make it similar to CSGo just more updated. |
| What if they made different decisions? | The game probably still would have been good just not at its full potential as it is now. |
| Does the design break down at any point? | sometimes but it mainly is always good. |
| Graphics & Sound | NOTES |
| Does the game art pair well with the mechanics? | it pairs perfectly with the mechanics and its art style is what makes this game different from most. |
| Did you find any bugs or glitches? | I have found one bug with a certain agent (Sova) where if you play Sova and shoot his bow at this certain spot you will be able to spot everyone on C site and this has to be on a certain map too. |
| What about sound? | The sound is fine and there have been 0 bugs with the sound. |
| Can you spot any technical shortcuts? | yes |
| Various Stages of the Game | NOTES |
| To wrap up, some things to keep in mind (as if there aren’t enough already) as you play: | |
| What challenges do you face, and how do you overcome them? | a challenge I face often is when your entire team dies and it’s up to you to kill everyone on site and defuse the bomb in time. |
| Is the game fair? | yes |
| Is it replayable? Are there multiple paths to victory or optional rules that can change the experience? | it’s replayable but there are other modes to such as team deathmatch, unrated, ranked, spike rush, and practice to help your aim. |
| What is the intended audience? | The intended audience is in all ages just about but manly older people and ages such as mine like 15 and up. |
| What is the core, the one thing you do over and over, and is it fun? | I do competitive when I have the chance because it’s what makes the game fun because you will always be put in intense situations and the games are always really close but I just do unrated a lot for practice with my friend since he and I are different ranks. |
This analysis form was adapted from https://notlaura.com/a-template-for-analyzing-game-design/