Entry Violet: Week 9

Reflection:

This week the reading focused on play testing. I think this is a really important topic to address as it is crucial to the process and helps it to not seem as such an abstract idea. On top of this, looking it up can sometimes be hard as the internet mainly seems to assume if you are looking up playtesting that you want to do it rather than receive it. So, by having a detailed explanation on not only what it is or its purpose, but also how do it, truly helps. At first, I couldn't really understand why this was such an important thing to do so early in; however, by doing the projects we have in class I was able to finally understand. As, in the middle of me conceptualizing I had someone trying it out with me so I could figure out what my ideas looked like; and yet, while we were playing they were able to give me feedback. By learning from it, I was able to change the gameplay right there and make the game better. But this was just with a simplistic modification to a card game or board game. As for a full-fledged video game I can see why this would be important.

On top of this, it causes me to have to figure out how I will go about this once its my games that need play testing. The chapter gives several different ways to go about it depending on your resources and what part of the process you are in. But when I thought up having my own gaming company I never realized this was something I would have to accomadate for on top of everything else. And because it is something that I would have to be doing relatively frequent, it is definitely something that needs to be more deeply considered.

Experience:

This week I tried out Watch Dogs Legion on the PS4, which is considered to be an action-adventure game. Being that I am a huge fan of Watch Dogs 2, I do have prior experience; which, does alter my viewpoints a bit as I am also comparing it. The gameplay starts pretty quickly as you first play as this male named Dalton in London, who is apart of Dedsec. The game does a really nice job of allowing you the freedom to learn the controls while also guiding the process a little bit. Once you actually get to use a gun, the gameplay picks up a lot more nicely. The aiming somehow seems to be way better as well as the fighting; as now enemies actually do fight back (melee). I was surprised by this when I thought my attack would simply take them down like previously but then I was shoved back.

On top of this, they improved the controls. The crouching and running buttons are way better placed, which is really important for me being that movement needs to be seamless. They allow you the opportunity to choose from a nice range of people, so I chose Sandra Turner. I was really happy about this feature because, being that I am a female, it gets pretty tiring constantly being forced into male characters. On top of this, being that I am a colored female, being able to choose a colored female made it perfect. Afterwards, it goes into typical Watch Dogs fashion as I was able to run around the city and wreak havoc, steal cars, and mess with civilians; however, there are also a lot of features that were removed that I did miss like the fun little encounters we could have with strangers, such as flirting or taunting (or hacking their phones conversations and money). Unless you are trying to recruit someone, you pretty much just can't even interact with them unless you try to hurt them, anyway.

Overall, I enjoyed playing the game and I think it's cool all the new elements they have added to the game. It leads me to want to ask,

"What led to these changes? Who asked for these changes in particular, was this a player or designer's choosing?"

I ask this because they seem to add more to the player's stealth and take a bit away from the hacking itself. As well as the shooting, as the characters make it very clear that "using the gun is the last resort"; however, I can't imagine why they would feel to add more fighting and less shooting? They even took away the ability to steal guns from deceased enemies. You are limited to about 4-5 guns (which you have to unlock, aside from the one you start with) and for whatever reason are "non-lethal". I think so often people question about creating a game; however, I think its important to also question, the second and the third games too. What leads the design team to making a huge leap of changes and then not? What causes certain things to be changed, and those particular changes being applied? And how should I apply this into my own games? Because, while I am excited for what they have added I'm also a bit disappointed about what was removed.