This week we had to revisit your favorite game from last week’s blog and analyze that game on the basis of the formal elements Fullerton describes in Game Design Workshop (book).
Players: The game has a single player mode and multiple player modes. Single player would compete against the challenges offered by the game. He would also compete against time. In the multi-player mode there is one more dimension of Human Intervention added. This adds to more complexity and more challenges as the players need not think in the same manner as the computer thinks.
Player Objectives: The player’s goal is to win the race by not just defeating the opponents but also by maintaining good condition of the car. He has to keep in mind that there are no major accidents and the condition of the car is maintained. Damage to the car results in deduction of points. He also has to save himself from being busted by the police and should not kill people on road. In the Knockout mode he has to make sure that he never comes last in the race or the game would end there. Similarly in a Tournament mode the objective is to have a better average performance.
Rules: The primary rule is to have the least damage to the car while racing. Better car condition will let you unlock levels. You should not meet with accidents and kill people. Killing people might have heavy penalty and you will be behind bars. The whole race is kind of a secret event and thus you have to keep safe distance from the police. Certain cars can move at only a particular speed. The maneuvering and controls vary with different cars. There is Nitro boost and there is a limit to it.
Resources: Cars, money, map are the resources. Better timing and handling results in points. Nitro boost and secret shortcuts that are embedded in the map will speed you up.
Conflict: In order to get a better car and be able to race in a different location you have to win the races with the available resources. The better you are at saving your car from damage, the lesser money you pay for its maintenance. The money saved will let you buy a better, powerful car and will let you buy accessories for the car which might be particularly important for that track. You might be winning a race but lots of damages to the car will actually not help you get more points and you cannot unlock the higher level. Even if you unlock the next level, you still will be competing with an old car in a new level, and thus will have a bleaker chance of winning in that level. So the essence is not just winning the race but to drive properly and still win.
Boundaries: The race track is the boundary in itself. You cannot actually go anywhere apart from this. You cannot actually race in a wrong way as the game prompts you constantly. As the goal is to move from the starting point to the ending point, there is not much room for exploring. Some locations allow you to detour a little on the landscape but that will slow you down and the main objective is to finish the race in least time. The tracks are bordered by buildings, trees, and water bodies. As soon as you move to a different surface, you experience a change in speed. You can surely choose to explore and find a shortcut on a map.
Outcomes: There are two outcomes of the game. You either win a race or lose it. Though winning is the ultimate goal and is absolute, losing has different levels and varieties. You can either be the last of the lot or you can be somewhere in between, may be 2nd or 3rd. Though you are not first, you can defeat other opponents. You can have the best lap time in the game and still lose. Till the time you keep defeating someone, you keep progressing and there are different degrees of winning and losing which makes the game more interesting.
Change 1: Make the game a team effort. You win the race when all the team members win it against the opponent. This will result in collective effort. Strong racers would have to help the weaker ones to come up to their skill level. Only when all the drivers in the team are at a similar skill level, your team will win. This will result in off the game interaction and how they need to collaborate to win the race.
Change 2: Give them unlimited Nitro Boosters. When people get unlimited resources they tend to oversee other problems. The players will now race harder and land up in more accidents and lose more points and effectively will not gain much from the change. This change will allow them to realize that ends can be achieved only when you make optimum use of the resources available to you.
