Evaluation of PC game After the End - Auburn University



Evaluation of PC game After the End

COMP7970 assignment 3

1. Game Introduction

After the End is a PC game developed by KraiSoft Entertainment, a relatively small PC game company on Internet [1]. Figure 1 below is a screenshot of the game, and a demo version of the game can be downloaded from [1].

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Figure 1 Screenshot of game After the End

The game starts based on a story that a space vehicle was has crashed on a planet in outer space and all crew members died except for ‘the player’, the avatar in the game. In order to flee this planet, the player needs to look for parts on this planet to repair the crashed spaceship, but the parts must be available on this planet. T However, there are also monsters on the planet. The player needs to kill all the monsters during the part searching process. During the start of the game, the player has only two pistols and a limited number of bullets. However, he may obtain more powerful weapons, such as machine gun, and more ammo after he kills enough number of monsters. Weapons appear in a random order., Iif the player doesn not pick up the weapon within a short time limit (i.e. a few seconds)he cannot pick up the weapon appeared within several seconds, the weapon will disappear.

Monsters may come from random direction and in random numbers. The player must react quickly enough to fire his arms to kill the monsters; otherwise, he will be eaten by them. The player uses the mouse to control the shooting direction and target on monsters. The four arrows keys or the four keys W-A-S-D on the left of the keyboard are used to control the waking direction and speed of the avatar. The numeric keys are used to switch weapons. The game is divided in multiple levels based on the player’s skill and difficulty of the play. The higher the level, the faster the monsters run and a largerthe more number of monsters may attach simultaneouslycome at the same time,increasing the difficulty level for the player and reducing their ability to stay alive.. and the more difficult for the player to survive.

2. Game Genre

Due to lack of universally agreed criteria, classification of game into genres is often subjective. Some games, especially modern games with advanced technology, may be classified into multiple genres, such as action and strategy. The game After the End is no exception. The major player actions in this game are shooting and killing. Thus, the genre of the game is action. However, the player also needs to collect items to repair the crashed space vehicle, and flee the planet, thus the playerhe needs a strategy. For example, if he picks up a spaceship part too early, he may be killed easily by monsters since the part will affect his action. Thus, the game genre of After the End is action but it has elements of action-adventure, First Person Shooter (FPS), and strategy genres.

3. Technology Applied

After the End is a typical 3D PC game. With term ‘typical’, we mean it is a 3D PC game but does not have extraordinary features. It has a 3D terrain background. It uses some animations and AI technology. For example, the weapon is flashing in a circle and turning around when it appears in order to arouse the attention of the player. AI technology can be detected from the following fact: the more skillful the player, the more monsters attack the player and the monsters attach a larger variety ofthe more disperse the directions the monsters come from.

4. Fun of the game

Since the genre of the game is action, the funativity of the game comes from our instinct for survival developed during our evolution. The player has to reflex fast when monsters come and open fire. This is similar to the hunting activity in ancient time. The player needs to run wisely in certain direction to avoid group attack. He also needs some strategy to collect necessary items in order to repair his space vehicle, for example, he should put down the parts when opening fire. The ‘flow’ of the game that a player may feel mainly comes from two points: when the player is surrounded by multiple monsters and when the player is in an urgent need for more ammo. When at a high level of the play, the instinct of survival in dangerous situations will create and keep the ‘flow’ of the player.

5. Feedback from player

In order to evaluate the game, I trained my classmate Ben Terhat to play the game in Dunstan Hall 101. He liked this game but he was never able to pass level one even after three trials. ‘It’s too difficult’ is his first response. In the beginning, the attacks of monsters and killing make him excited. But, after three trials, he lost interest since he always resulted in being eaten by monsters. In fact, I was able to get into the second level only after I tried numerous times. Both of us agreed on several shortcomings of the game: Fist, the control of avatar is a little awkward. The four keys A-S-D-W are on the edge of the keyboard. It may be better to move the control keys one key further to the right, such as using keys S-D-F-E. Second, some moving actions are not realistic. Although the game has a 3D terrain background, such as mountain, rocks and trees, the avatar moves the same way when encountering these object. He runs over a tree or a rock in a fixed manner as if these objects do not exist at all, for example, he can go ‘through’ a rock. I tried to avoid the rocks in the beginning but found later they do not have any effect on the moving. Third, the action options of the avatar are too limited; he can only walk and open fire. If he can kick or has some magic actions may reduce the difficulty of the play for novice players.

6. Suggestion for improvement

Based on the feedback of my classmate and my own experience, I think After the End could be a better game if some changes are made. First, the difficulty of play at beginning levels should be decreased in order to keep players, and the difficulty pf play should increase gradually. Second, objects in background should have influence over movement of the avatar, for example, he may be cornered by monsters if he walks toward a rock. Third, the avatar should be able to kick or has other action options other than mere opening fire because when he is surrounded by monsters, it’s very hard for the player to use mouse to turn around the avatar quickly and, at the same time, open fire and kill all monsters. The game may be more player-friendly and more acceptable to novice players after these modifications being made.

References

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