Week 7 Gameplay-Revisiting The Wolf Among Us

Unpack the first level of your chosen game (including cut scenes) – how does it tell its story, and how is the player involved in the telling?

When we start the first chapter of The Wolf Among Us, the player takes on the role as Sheriff Bigby Wolf, tasked to protect the fantasy creatures of Fabletown. Known in the past as the Big bad wolf, he is determined to put the past behind him and earn the trust of creatures of Fabletown, 

Personally, the colors are bold and vivid and the music is a great match to both the graphics and style of game that it is. Combined, it takes on an ominous comic book appeal and feel and achieves getting the player into "the zone" of the game.

When our protagonist first talks with Mr Toad, we are introduced to the feature of choice. Choice is definitely a prominent key element of the game. Being Bigby you have to acknowledge the rights and privileges you have when making decisions. This invariably lends itself directly to the direction the game continues on towards. For example, Mr Toad and Bigby have a discussion about Toad not applying his "glamour" (or human appearance). As this is a criminal offence, Bigby is faced with the dilemma of whether he punishes Toad for this indiscretion or whether he lets him off with a warning. Making a decision either way will directly impact the game and on this particular occasion, Bigby exercised the law. This prompts a notice from the game that "Toad will remember this". That demonstrates to me that the decision made by Bigby will influence the game at a later stage because of the impact it had on Toad. When making Bigby's decision, there is also a time limit imposed, which forces me as a player to make a quick strategic decision, knowing that whatever I choose will have consequences the further I progress.

As explained above, timing is key when making choices. As Bigby, had I not made a decision within the given time frame to reprimand Toad, the game would have chosen a path to continue towards that I would have had no direct influence over.Again, the impact of this would come to light later in the game. Another example of timing is during fight scenes. The discussion I've been referencing between Toad and Bigby was actually initiated by Mr Toad to report a domestic violence situation. Again, Bigby is faced with several options on how on how to deal with the offender, which would again, have consequences for the Bigby later on. As well as deciding the relevant course of action, you must help Bigby defend himself by hitting the series of  letters that appear on the screen during these particular scenes. Failing to do so results in Bigby being harmed by the perpetrator.

The game continually reveals new characters that have unique relationships with the main character and sets the course of the game depending on what choices you make for Bigyby. Toad and the characters that I've referenced above are part of the game at that particular time and not feature characters throughout the entire game. However, my time spent playing this game may have been too limiting to determine whether or not they do reappear at a later stage. Personally,  I would say they do based on the comment "Toad will remember this". Because I enjoyed the experience I had, I will be revisiting.

Telltale Games. (Developer). (2013). The Wolf Among Us [Video Game]. United States: Telltale Games

Wk 6 Gameplay- Fez

Could your game have developed its narrative and told the same or a similar story without any of the characters?

This week I played 'Fez'. I feel the interaction with the other characters are quite basic and does not add much of a dimension to the narrative of the game. They offered tips and tools in order to progress,however there was already functions that would have allowed me to gain me these tools and tips with little to no action with other characters. When you first start it looks like a very happy and interactive game, however as you progress through the game I feel like the characters are only in there so it looks pleasing to the eye and so the game does not appear lonely and isolated. Even if I was any other character the story would still be the same and would not have made a difference. Without knowing how, the narrative may have been impacted in a more positive way had the characters been more animated and provided depth and functionality to increase the user experience.

Overall the game certainly was appealing at first glance, particularly for a puzzle game but it certainly did not live up to the hype, which is a shame because the efforts it went to to attract the player were lost once you engaged.

Gameplay Week 5

Do the choices you make in the game contribute to the sense of meaningful interactive moments?

The game I decided to play this week was 'Deus Ex' (2001) a first person shooter/RPG, I didn't feel that the dialogue choices throughout the game were meaningful and also did not have any branching narratives. One of choices in the game was the selection of weapons, initially my understanding or assumption was that this would indicate to the player how to easily and successfully kill the enemy with different options for different weaponry, however throughout game play I found a number of new weapons to use, this made that choice  of weapon selection meaningless. Through the entirety of the game the player could make a choice on whether they wanted kill or avoid the enemy by sneaking past. To me the option of 'kill' or 'avoid' did not result in branching narrative paths but potentially effect game play as it impacted on how fast or slow it would take the player to conclude the game. I felt that I was always able to anticipate the outcome of my decisions as I played. This would be mainly based on my prior knowledge and experience with past shooting games which tended to use the same problems, same choices and therefore confirm my assumption. In the end I did not quite enjoy this game.

The Wolf Among Us

The game I'm playing this week is 'The Wolf Among Us', already I like how the graphics look, though it is 3D the art is created in a way to make it look like a retro 2D comic almost. The short sequence at the start menu is really cool, the lighting, colour pallet and music all together help give it a mysterious and perhaps almost ominous vibe, which really draws me in and made really excited and curious of what the game had to offer.
When first starting the game I realised that there is a time limit when deciding the choices you make, the choice situation is quite obvious but I feel as the player, you don't have enough time to make your decision, so I did not know how what would happen with the outcomes of my choice which I found it a bit frustrating because I always like to stop and think about my decision rather than just randomly clicking an answer, however I also feel like this makes the game and character feel more realistic and almost movie like. The interaction in the game also felt like I was joining in along and helping the character with his work but most of the choices I made for the character had no major impact for the narrative.
I did play this very quickly so perhaps my views will change, but in the end I really enjoyed this game.