DDDEVASTATIONNN

Silhouette of a shmup

            In this second grind, I will take a good hard look at Radnom game: DDEVASTATIONN. The game follows the vein of the classic 2D shoot-hem-up titles such has Contra or Metal slug. In DDDEVASTATIONNN, the player is thrown in a hellish universe where monsters roam free. Armed with your trusty machine gun, flamethrower and grenades, you set out for a quest for survival... And green sign extermination.

            I’ll first examine the game focusing on how it makes the player feel during the experience, such as how is he motivated, how does he know what to do and how much experimentation he can get out of the game. Afterwards, I will look at the game from a technical point of view investigating on aspects like the ergonomics and the stability of the application. Then, I will list suggestions to fix issues that I have raised while examining the game.

Before I start I’d like to clarify a few things. First of all, I will be referring to the player as “he” but this is only a matter of simplicity. The context applies to both male and female player. Second thing, I’d like to mentionned that, even though I have played the game several hours, I have not been able to finish it. It sadens me because I wish I would have beaten the game but too many frustration has lead me to quit. I will elaborate on that matter later on.

Emotional

How DDDEVASTATIONNN makes us feel when playing? Let’s look at various emotional elements found in the game.

Motivation

            There are many factors that motivate the player during the experience. These factors are quite varied: the player’s goal, the story, the originality and the emotional involvment of the player in the game universe all affect how the game will grab the player’s attention while playing and how it will attract him back to it once he stopped.  

Goals

            If the player plays, it’s because he has a goal. There are three common types of goals: long-term, mid-term and short-term. Long-term goals are the primary reason for the player to play. The mid-term goals are secondary, usually optional objectives that the player may have along the experience. Short-term goals are usualy directly associated with the gameplay. Let’s see the goals offered in DDDEVASTATIONNN.

Long-term goal

            In the case of DDDEVASTATIONNN, the only long-term goal the player can find is very common in the world of video games. The primary goal here is to simply reach the end of the game. True, it is a very effective goal but unfortunately, since it’s the only long-term goal in the game and it is very common, it does not have enough impact to keep the player motivated for a very long time. The game would greatly benefit of at least another long-term goal to grab the player’s motivation. This way, if the player looses interest in one, he will still want to play the game in order to achieve another available goal. 

Mid-term goal

            The game offers a bit more mid-term goals but    still doesn’t have much to show. The first mid-term goal offered to the player is reaching the end of a scene. Since all the levels are divided in short sequences of actions, or scenes, the player has a quick feeling of accomplishement, motivating him at the same time.

             Considering the fact that all sequences are different, the player has a secondary mid-term goal associated with it: the curiosity of the player will make him want to see what new creatures and obstacles the game has to offer in the next scene. Elements like destructible grounds or enemies that behave differently helps to keep the player playing from one scene to another.

Alas, the mid-term goals are not strong enough to compensate for the lack of long-term goals. A few more mid-term goals would be a plus but those already in the game do their jobs correctly.

Short-term goal

            In terms of short-term goals, the player has a lot more motivation elements. The main short-term motivation a player has in this game is finding new ways of overcoming a challenge. As new enemies and bosses appear, the player will try to find new ways of overcoming those challenges in order to reach the next scene. The different behaviors of the enemies, obstacles (such as the explosive drums) and boss patterns keep the player on his toes, motivated through the entire scene.

            Unfortunatly, since most ennemies and bosses have very similar solutions, the short-term goals loose their impacts over time. They still keep the player motivated but adding new ways of overcoming challenges would help to make those short-term goals strong through all the experience.    

Originality

            Part of the player’s motivation comes from the original or unqiue elements that the game offers during the experience. Originality keeps the player wondering about what will happen next hence motivated to keep on playing.

DDDEVASTATIONNN offers few original elements. The game follows most clichés of the genre: mindless enemies, exploding barrels, fixed-screen bosses, hand grenades or machines guns. It is quite unfortunate that most of the game’s originality comes from its artistic direction. The graphical representation of the game universe use a very stylistic and original approach by portraying the elements as silouhettes. The gameplay elements do not match this bold direction and remains in the tired elements we’ve all seen before.

The game would truly benefit of more original gameplay elements that will tell the player that this game is not simply a common shooter-hem-up with a  different graphical representation approach.   

Storyline

            The storyline in DDDEVASTIONNN is nearly inexistent. Apart from the warning messages that give small, sarcastic hints of things to come at the very beginning of the game, the player finds no story elements to guide and motivate him. This lack of story elements creates a disorientation for the player: he doesn’t know who he is, where he is, in what time and why is he doing all of these actions. The game doesn’t have to give all those information at once but it will have to provide to the player at least few information within the first ten or twenty minutes of play.

            The lack of long-term goals and storyline are intertwined. Creating a simple story or giving story informations along the experience would create a new long-term goal: know what’s the whole story. 

Emotional involvement

              Another big part of the player’s motivation comes from his emotional involvment in the game. What’s his role in the universe? What’s his viceral reason to play this game? How does the action he has to perform make him feel? Emotional involvement is quite important through the experience.

            In DDDEVASTATIONNN, the player’s emotional involvment is very low. First of all, he has not been given any reason to play this game, as mentionned earlier. The lack of long-term goal and storyline makes the player feel detached form the universe, as if he was simply looking at the events rather than truly taking part of it all.

            This feeling of detachment is even stronger with the fact that the player cannot loose. The lack of lives or chances tells the player that his virtual death is ephemeral and that wheter he wins or looses, the result will be the same. In other term, the game is telling that, if the player plays well or not or not he will still be able to fulfill his long-term goal. And since the long-term goal isn’t quite motivating, the player ends up with no actual reason to play the game.

            Related to the lack of chances or lives comes the lack of mastership. Since there are no pressure to win or loose, there are no obvious way to master the game. A competition based game like DDDEVASTATIONNN should always feature few elements on which the players can compete or compare. I’ll elaborate a bit more on that matter later on.

              All in all, the game doesn’t offer anything that no other games already offer to the player in order to keep him coming back. This feeling of “been there, done that” doesn’t really help to involve the player emotionaly: he has no reason invest his emotions in a game that doesn’t seem to care about him. 

In summary...

            Overall, the game lacks motivational elements to keep the player in the experience. May it be because of the few goals offered to him, the lack of originality, the absent storyline and  the poor emotional involvment of the player, the game offers little to grab the player’s attention.

Intuitivism

            In this section, I will examine how the player knows what to do within the game universe. Intuitivism can be divided in three section: the goal clarity, the solution clarity and the mechanism behaviors.

Goal clarity

            The game has to supply various goals to the player in order to keep him motivated. These goals have to be clearly identified so that the player understand what’s his objective.

            The goal clarity in DDDEVASTATIONNN is very clear, mainly due to the fact that there are few goals. The player always knows what’s his next objective and there are no doubts in his mind.

Solution clarity

            Knowing the goal is one thing, Achieving it is another. Solution clarity is about how the player find the solution to the challenges seperating him from the realisation of his objective.

            Once again, DDDEVASTATIONNN is quite obvious in terms of solution clarity. The player always knows how to achieve his next goals. Basically, the game can be boiled down to two essential solutions: “walk to the right” and “shoot everywhere and everything”. This makes the game very easy to undertsand and learn... In fact, too easy. A few more possible solutions would benefit the experience.  

Mechanism behavior

            One the solution is found, executing it is the next step. Does the game mechanism reacts according to the player’s need when needed?

            DDDEVASTIONNN has, of course, very obvious mechanism behaviors. The actions of the player always result in the expected reactions no matter the situation. This is undeniably related to the fact that there are few needed solutions  in order to achieve the few goals given to the player.

In summary...

            DDDEVASTATIONNN is very intuitive. The player always knows where to go to progress, what tasks to perform in order to reach the next section and how to perform those tasks. 

Experimentation level

            In this section, I will look at the game’s ability to allow the player to experiment with the game. How many different elements can the player learn during the experience?

Mastership

            In DDDEVASTATIONNN, there are very little mastership elements. All of the crucial learning elements are available from the beginning and the few found during the experience can be mastered within two or three tries. The game lacks depth and adding gameplay techniques would truly enhance the player’s experience.  

Avatar experimentation

            The game offers very little avatar experimentation. The player is given an avatar at the beginning of the game and it doesn’t change during the experience. Hence, the player cannot customize or alter the character in any way in order to fit his needs. The game offers a basic customization of the avatar, which consists of switching weapons, but there is not enough difference between the weapons to truly let the player experiment. In other words, shooting or burning the enemy will be played in the same fashion, by holding down a button.

            Diversifying the weapons would be a good way to let the player experiment with the avatar. Allowing the character to find new weapons or adding new gameplay techniques would also aid to fix this lack of depth.

Level experimentation

            The levels in DDDEVASTATIONNN are very linear. This makes the player’s every goal crystal clear but sadly, it also reduces the level experimentation elements.  The player cannot explore new ways of going through a level. The destructible elements found in those levels show potential but do not offer anything in the end. 

Challenge experimentation

            DDDEVASTATIONNN offers various challenges to the player but, unfortunately, the player cannot overcome those challenges in imaginative ways.  Most challenges can be taken care of by using a simple “stand and deliver” strategy: the player stands still and shoots until nothing moves. In certain occasions, the player can overcome certain challenges by using the environment around him, such as rocks or explosive barrels, but using such strategy is usually difficult and commonly results in failure. The experience provided by the game would be greatly enhanced if the player would be offered alternate ways of dealing with the challenges. 

In summary...

            DDDEVASTATION offers little experimentation to the player. The player can quickly master the techniques found in the game and most challenges can be passed by using the same strategies throughout the entire experience.

Representation

            Part of how the player feels lays on the shoulders of the graphics. The pretty pictures on the screen are not simply esthetical: they also play their role when delivering the emotions from the game to the player. In this section, I will take a look on how DDDEVASTATIONN’s graphical elements makes the player feel.

Graphic direction

            The graphic direction in this game is quite bold. The game uses monochromic silhouettes to represent all of the game’s universe elements. Very bold but regrettably not necessarily well accomplished. Such artistic direction is very complicated to pull off. In DDDEVASTATION’s case, the game feels empty, lifeless, fade and boring, in a bad way. The graphics lacks details and feels like they have not been researched thoroughly. If the game would feature more details, the virtual universe would become a lot more believable. The feeling of despair and emptiness found in the game would translate correctly in the backgrounds and creatures instead of feeling amateurish.  The very first screen is very detailed compared to the others so this may suggest that the game’s graphics are not completed.   

Character design

            The character design found in DDDEVASTATION is acceptable. Most of the characters are very common and some are even pale imitations of existing fictional creatures such as the monsters in “Alien”. The walking hands are very interesting. The game does not explain how those hands can walk around by themselves but the concept of an evil “Thing” Adams is amusing. The boss characters also show a bit of originality but their poor graphical representation spoils their essence.

Universe design

            The universe found in DDDEVASTATIONNN is rather undeveloped. Although diversified, the player finds himself fighting monsters in similar environments pretty much all through the game. Since the backgrounds are not as detailed as they could be, it’s very hard to tell exactly what is the universe like precisely. We know that there is a city and an underground but we don’t have much details besides that. In the end, the universe shows potential but it is not yet explored properly.     

Sounds and Music

Sound and music direction

            The musical direction is one of the game’s strong points. It features very gloomy and aggressive music that fits with the virtual universe’s feel. The musical pieces through the game feel a bit too smooth by moments, especially in dramatic situations. Nevertheless, most of the time, they fit correctly in the game. Special musical pieces when fighting bosses would be a nice addition but the softer, gloomier pieces work as well.

Sound effects

The sound effects are weak. Certain sounds are done correctly but others, such as the jumping sound or most creatures, feel very amateurish.

In summary...

DDDEVASTATION’s graphics, sounds and music all have an interesting concept behind them but do not deliver them as well as they could. The graphical elements and the sound effects feel very amateurish while the music, although fitting with the mood of the game, sometimes feels too smooth for the dramatic situations.   

Immersion

            Immersion is about making the player forget that he is actually playing. How does DDDEVASTATIONNN makes the player enter the virtual world? Many factors make a game immersive. I will focus on the three most important in my opinion: how does the game passes the information to the player, how the player controls the game and how intact the continuity remains throughout the experience.

Information divulgation

            A game’s immersion starts by how the player is given the important information throughout the experience.  How does the player know if he is about to loose or win? How does he know where he is within the game universe? When these are given in the proper fashion, it makes the game more immersive.

            In DDDEVASTATIONNN’s case, the game is quite immersive in terms of information divulgation. The game shows clearly all the crucial information without breaking the player’s feeling of disbelief. There are no popping numbers on-screen, all the avatar’s and enemies states are represented with animations and there are no user interface while playing.  This immersion is greatly linked to the fact that the game has very little information to tell the player. It makes it very easy to make a game immersive when the game has not much to say. So, yes, the way the game passes the information makes the game quite immersive but that’s mainly because there are close to no information to tell the player during the experience. It would be interesting to see how the game would do with more things to tell.

Controls

            Another big factor that influences the game’s immersion comes from how the player physically interacts with the game. Responsive and natural controls make the player forget that he is holding a device and becomes in a state where he passes his ideas into the game and not into a controller. In other terms, the player controls the avatar with precision, making him perform the desired actions when he wants it and he doesn’t have to think about how to input it on the controller.

            DDDEVASTATIONNN offers a rather complicated control scheme. Since the game requires the player to hold down three or four buttons at the same time, the controls are difficult and irritating. In numerous cases, the player knows what to do but cannot do it because of the long and difficult input. This is mostly because the player has to hold down various buttons at the same time and then release some to tap and then, hold down a new set of buttons. This control scheme could work but the jumping button repeats itself when held down, causing undesired jumps. The player can easily loose control over his avatar, breaking the immersion. A simplified control scheme with un-looping jumping button would help the game to be more natural and immersive. 

Continuity

            The third factor that influences the game’s immersion is the continuity of the experience.  Are there illogical errors that make the player remember he is in a virtual world? Are there situations that do not fit with the game’s universe? Does the game breaks the fourth wall? When a game has a good continuity, the player will become immersed.

            DDDEVASTATIONNN offers a good continuity but it is broken at various times. The first situation occurs when shooting floating green sings at the very beginning of the game. Floating boards do not help to make a rather serious-toned game believable. In addition, disappearing enemies breaks the continuity.  An enemy explosion without any remains would have been more suited than a simple “fade out” animation. In general, the game does a good job in terms of continuity but certain small details should be reviewed.

In summary…

            DDDEVASTATIONN does a good job in terms of immersion. However, one of the reason why it is so immersive is due to a lack of information given to the player. The game has a difficult control scheme but it also continuous. 

Fairness

            The last emotional factor that influences the player’s experience is the fairness of the game.  Most of a player’s frustration is caused by a lack of fairness: if the player feels the game is fair when loosing, he will blame himself for the loss and will play again. If he feels the opposite, he will drop the controller  and never play again.  Fairness is all about the player’s view of a situation. The game must provide enough information about a situation so that the player can evaluate if he possesses all the resources needed to overcome the challenge and the game should not use any solutions that the player cannot use at some point during the experience.

            DDDEVASTATIONN is rather fair during the experience. The player is always stronger than the enemies in some way and he has access to numerous solutions that the game cannot use, such as the flamethrower or the machine gun. However, the game becomes a bit unfair in certain areas; for example, the red worm that pops out of the ground to attack offers a slightly unfair challenge. The player is given a warning of the upcoming challenge but there are no precise warnings on where the worm will appear. Adding the worm’s precise location before it is about to strike when the player is nearby would make the situation fair. Other situations, such as enemies with very high health, are also moderately unfair. It sometimes feel like the player has been shooting the same creature forever, especially when facing a bunch of monsters at the same time. But overall, the game can be considered fair.

Technical

In this section, I will take a look at all the aspects of a game that the player should ever see. A game’s ergonomics, stability or flow should never bother the player as he tries to enter a new universe.  

Mechanisms

In this section, I will look at how the game provides feedback to the player whenever he performs an action. Since listing all the mechanisms would be a tedious task and would not bring much to this critic, I will simply make an overview.

Mechanisms of DDDEVASTATIONNN all provide sufficient feedback to the player. Whenever the player performs an action, he will know exactly what happens on the screen. Certain mechanism could use more feedback, such as weapon changing, since the art style used is not very detailed. However, it does not mean that the action is without feedback: the player can see that his avatar has changed. The player can also clearly see when the avatar changes states. He can also clearly see when an action as no effects on an element.

Except for the jumping mechanism that repeats itself, on which I have already talked about, all of the game’s mechanisms behave according to what the player expects.

In summary

            The mechanisms found in the game provide enough feedback to the player and all behave according to the player’s expectations. Some may need some fixing but they all work well in the end.

Flow

            This section is about how the game’s screens connect to each other’s. Are there unnecessary steps before getting into the game? Are there screens that should be accessed differently? Is the loading time between levels acceptable? A good screen flow will make the player’s experience smooth while outside the game universe.

            DDDEVASTATIONNN has a very good flow. The player can move form one screen to another with ease and intuitivism. There are no superfluous steps to take before reaching the game screen and there are no loading time after the game has launched.

In summary…

            DDDEVASTATIONNN flows extremely well from one screen to another without superfluous steps.

Economics

In this section, I’ll take a look on the economical elements found throughout the game. Economical elements are every elements exchanged between the player and the game universe through the possible actions the player and the game can perform. These elements can be many different things, ranging from coins found in a level to skills for the character. 

The economics of DDDEVASTATIONNN is quite undeveloped. There is only one element that can be found in the game: the player’s chances or lives. Whenever the player is defeated, he looses a chance. When loosing a chance, the player has to restart the current scene from the beginning. Unfortunately, the value of this economical element is extremely low. Since the player has unlimited amount of chances and that there are no bad consequences to loosing, the economical element quickly looses its value. Loosing becomes a minor set back in the game, which is very bad since it’s the only tradable value between the player and the game. An approach like this is not necessarily flawed: it only means that the game should offer at least two or three other elements to favor the economy and put a bit more pressure on the player. Time limits, bullets, power-ups, experience points, etc… There is a long list of possibilities just by glancing at the economical elements found in existing games.

Adding new economical elements would also help to motivate the player. Numerous goals can be added in the game simply by introducing a new economical value in the game’s universe.

In summary

            DDDEVASTATIONN’s economy is nearly inexistent and needs to be improved, mainly by adding new tradable values and making the one already present more valuable to the player’s eyes. 

Ergonomics and accessibility

            Even if the gameplay featured in your title is the best in the world, the player is not going to care if he cannot access it properly. Good ergonomics are essential in order to keep your player ready for the challenges you’re about to offer them and not mad at the menus. Accessibility allows the player to adjust the game to its technical and physical needs. Hardware, handicaps or taste are things a designer cannot control so the game must be able to adapt itself to the player.

Ergonomically speaking, DDDEVASTATIONNN does a good job. The menus are simple to use and the player is well guided when taking important decision. There are confirmations everywhere needed except when exiting the game screen. One thing that becomes annoying with time is the fact that the menu moves form one spot to another when accessing an option. The menu would be more user-friendly if it remained at the same spot when going from one option to another.  The fact that it pops at a random position when the game loads for the first time is acceptable, what is not is the fact that it moves around when using the menu.

            DDDEVASTATION is a very accessible game. The game can easily adapt itself to the player’s liking and all the important messages are given using texts. The only thing missing is a narrator for those who may have trouble reading. But, even without this feature, the game is very accessible.

In summary

            The ergonomics of the game are good except for few little details. The game is also quite accessible since it can adapt itself to the player’s need.

Stability

            DDDEVASTATIONNN is a very stable application. It has not crashed while I played and possesses very few broken features, unwanted behaviors and glitches. 

            The saving system is not working properly in the game. I suspect that it has been disabled but the player cannot save or load a game. Also, the player cannot access the unlocked features even though the menu option is enabled. This is quite regrettable since I would have completed the game if I had the ability to save along the way.

In summary…

The game has great stability but unfortunately shows broken important features.

Personal suggestions

            I personally think that the game’s worst problem is its lack of motivational factors. The game must truly provide a good reason to the player besides the challenge of beating the game or he will simply loose interest. There are various ways to obtain more goals of all types: adding new gameplay techniques and adding new economical elements are few example of changes that can greatly enhance the player’s experience.

            In terms of graphics, I think the game is heading the right way but would greatly benefit of a lot of researches. It is difficult to create a detailed scene when using a very simple approach but it is not impossible: it simply takes a bit more thought.

            As for the game in general, I think it has potential but it needs to work on major issues before it reaches a good state of gameplay, mostly in level design. The game universe features many possibilities but, as of now, the design of the challenges has been relatively redundant. It would be nice to see the interesting features incorporated in the designs of the levels. Doing so would open new strategies to surpass a challenge, which will enhance the player’s experimentation level. Multiple paths would also be very interesting to include.

Conclusion

            In conclusion, DDDEVASTATIONN is a silhouette of a shmup. The elements are there but there are yet completely formed. The player feels like something is there but still cannot make it out clearly. The situation is not as bad as it seems though. Many flaws found in the game can be simply taken care of by adding few elements to the gameplay. There’s a good job to be done on the game but I’m pretty sure that Radnom will be able to pull it. If not, he wouldn’t be presenting a game like DDDEVASTATIONN to us.