by Ethan Baker
Genre 1 (action-adventure survival):
Game 1 (Ark Survival Evolved):
What keeps players keep coming back to the game? First of all, the character design is human, but it also has a character customization screen when you first enter a new world. You can tweak anything you want to make the character suit what you want.
In ark, there are many (33) achievements for you to obtain. These are official ones, but there’s also some in-game. There are over 50 books you can collect which is another game mechanic to keep you playing. This is to get players to keep playing their game by hiding these things.
There are 4 big expansion packs (DLC) for Ark. None of these are free but they all add lots of content, a new map, new dinosaurs, and tools, etc. This is to keep players interested in the game, as if the base game ever gets stale, they can just release a new piece of content for players to play.
Ark just launched with one map, with one set of dinosaurs on this one map, but over time they released some more free maps, to add variety to the game. These other maps all have different dinosaurs from the starter map and they have different environments and biomes.
The maps are very vast and detailed. There are lots of different biomes over the maps, which encourages you to explore them. Dinosaurs also appear in their own environments, for example, penguins in the cold, frogs in the swamp. There are different items and plants that you find, all of which you need so this forces you to travel the maps and invest your time. (Metal on top of the mountain for example).
The aesthetics are very realistic to immerse you into the world, it also has a day-night cycle to create realism. The developers want this to be as immersive as visually as possible. It may not be real with some of the things you do physically, however.
Game 2 (Red Dead Redemption 2)
In Red Dead, your character is completely customizable, you can customize your face, clothes, and weapons.
In RDR2, there are 51 achievements for you to unlock. There are also many collectibles around the map that you can find, and they also give you a treasure map every 5 levels, that if you find the treasure you get some money out of it.
Red Dead has a level system, you obviously start at rank 0 (or 1), and you have to gain XP to level up, with each new level you gain more unlocks that you can buy with in-game money. The reason for this is to keep the player playing the game for longer, to finally get those unlocks at later ranks. The higher the rank, the better things you unlock.
There is only 2 DLC’s for RDR2 at the moment, but these both add a lot of content to this game. This is to keep players playing their game. There’s also a gold pass you can buy, for £20. This rewards the player with lots of in-game items.
This game only launched with 1 map, but this map is very vast, it’s basically a sandbox for you to travel. It is 29 square miles. There are slight biome changes also, but it’s basically the same map. Across the map, there are different animals to find, this is to create variety and keep the players playing.
Red Dead is very immersive and realistic, so if people are looking for a realistic game, this is probably the best game for them.
Game 3 (Grand Theft Auto V)
In GTA V singleplayer, you can choose from 3 different characters, you can change their clothing but not what they look like. This is probably because there is a story to focus on that’s quite linear. In multiplayer, you can change their clothing and what they look like. This is more likely because you have to make your own story a little bit more. Also with all of the customizable aspects, it makes you put more time into the game to make your character how you want.
GTA V has 77 achievements, which partially takes 60-80 hours to complete. So for the achievement hunters, they are going to have a lot of hours in the game. Since people might play so much, they might get bored with the game, which is why there are 3 DLC packs.
GTA V has an expansive map for you to explore, and with a big ocean around it. There is a lot of lands to explore.
There are missions, in both singleplayer and multiplayer. Singleplayer is the campaign, and multiplayer are missions you can do with friends, so people will like that if they enjoy multiplayer games, and doing missions with friends.
Grand Theft Auto also has a level system, like RDR2. You unlock more things with every rank up. This will satisfy people who enjoy grinding in games.
There’s also a money system, in which you spend on clothes, guns, cars and more. Therefore you have to play missions to get these things, so if you want lots of money for the good things, you have to do missions.
Genre 2 (FPS Games)
Game 1 (Overwatch)
Overwatch launched with 21 characters. There are currently 31 heroes now. Each character is unique in design, personality, and abilities. The heroes all launched for free.
In Overwatch, there is a level system. You start at level 1 and can go up as high as possible. Every 101 levels, you prestige and go back down to level 0, but you have a star underneath your name to show it.
There are achievements in Overwatch, for example, every character has ultimates that you get after doing a certain amount of damage to the enemy team, and if you kill all 6 other players on the opposite team with your ult, you might get an achievement depending on the hero. They are all different for each hero. (They all have 2 each). This is good for the people who want to achieve all of these, you might want to get this also as it gives you cosmetics for your character.
There are 21 different maps. Each with a different setting and map layout to create some diversity. Since Overwatch is (can be) a competitive game, people who enjoy the game can learn each map and use the tips and tricks and use them to your advantage. So for competitive gamers, there is a lot of content for them to learn.
Game 2 (Rainbow Six Siege)
Rainbow Six has 52 characters (operators). These are all different characters design-wise, ability-wise and their characters are all different too. This creates really great variety into this game, you can never get bored with the characters because there is so many. You can buy this operators with in real life money, or you can keep playing for a while to eventually unlock a chosen character, this is good for the developers because they win either way, and it’s good for the players because they CAN buy the characters, if that’s what they want or they can keep playing to earn it.
There are 20 maps in R6, each in a real location on this planet. Lots of variety, as it’s randomly chosen for a map. There is different routes to learn, and with so many maps you can invest a lot of hours into this game.
The gameplay in this game is very standard for a FPS game. It’s very similar to Overwatch, CS:GO and other big first person shooter games. This is good to target the FPS audience, as they can get straight into the game and start playing it, mechanically wise.
Progression wise, R6 is very straightforward. It’s a level up type game, like Overwatch or GTA V. This is a very basic, satisfying way of having progression in a game. Again, easy to pick up. Competitively, there is the basic leveling up method, but also another way to progress. There is competitive ranks, for example, bronze (low), diamond (high) and gold (in between). This hits a competitive target audience by giving them a different way way to level up.
There are weekly (and daily) rewards in Rainbow Six Siege. They give you the in-game currency, or sometimes some attachments or weapon skins. This is good for people who like to get rewards by completing achievements.
Game 3 (Counter-strike: Global Offensive)
This game is a very simple FPS game. The controls are the most basic controls you can get. This game is very easy to pick up and to be able to play. The core of the game is very simple too. This game is great for beginners to FPS games, and CS:GO itself. Every mechanic is very simple and easy to learn. This is really good also for people who are used to FPS games as the structure of the game is so well made.
CS:GO is very competitive. You’re in small maps in small teams, you learn the maps, the guns, the movement mechanics to try and perfect yourself. This game is perfectly made for players that want to master a competitive type game. It has a lot of similarities to Rainbow Six Siege.
There is an element of emergent gameplay which is really hard to use but if you perfect it you can get the upper-hand on the enemy team. You can jump left and right in a certain way to get extra speed whilst moving across the map. This element is really good for audiences that want to have a basic game, but have some secrets in the game that you can master.
Genre 3
Game 1 (Minecraft)
Minecraft is an survival game, but also a sandbox game. This is due to the fact that the would is massive (basically infinite), and there is no limit to what you can do. It gives great freedom to the player. There is an objective, which is survive, but it’s one of the many things that you can do. Ultimate freedom is basically the perfect thing for a player of your game to have.
Minecraft is a first-person game, and the controls are very basic and like most other first-person games. It’s very easy to pick up and play for any audience. There isn’t really a story for people to play along with. There is an end goal, which is basically a final boss level, but you don’t have to do that. Anyone can play at this game at any point into playing in a world, and they will be fine with it. It’s so simple which is why it accommodates to such a wide audience. Even if you die, you can respawn and get everything you lost back. Sort of an survival genre expectation subversion.
Game 2 (Subnautica)
Subnautica is a very open-world sandbox game. There is a story included in the game which is very linear, however you do not need to do this story. It’s basically a free-roam game with elements of a story which is optional.
There is lots of goals in this game, you have to find certain ship parts and scan them. For example you might have to collect 5/5 parts of a certain ship to unlock the blueprint to build it. Which you then have to gather the materials for. In survival games you expect the progression to be slow, otherwise you’d get bored or complete the game too quickly.
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