Games Unit

“Lost Planet”By: Kris Halvorson

Work plan• This post is describing what game we will look at, the group members and of course our work plan. In the work plan, there will be

information on when the deadline is, as well as a schedule for all the materials we will need to create.

The projected work that will happen over the course of the assignment on a day-by-day basis.

The blogA daily review of what I have examined and learned about the game I will be examining.

The work planthis is our schedule and what we plan to get done

Learning Rolescodebreakeruserparticipantanalyst

The walkthrougha walkthrough is a document which attempts to teach a player how to beat or solve a particular game. Many people consider walkthroughs to be a form of cheating, but no game is suited to be a fair challenge to everyone.Game analysisI am going to use a rubric to score the game on how well it is designed

PresentationWe will present our walk through, what we found from answering questions on learning roles, and analysis of the game.

ReflectionI will write a short reflection on what I learned about this game and game design.

The assigned functional roles:

Reflections of team members of what happened each day.What was completed?What was learned?What was the process like?

Game description• Our group is going to study and play the game: "Lost Planet."

The game's plot focuses on the amnesiac character Wayne Holden, his father, Gale Holden, and the past and future of the planet E.D.N. III. After a particularly vicious battle against a large Akrid (Who's an alien) known only as "Green Eye", Gale is supposedly killed, and Wayne lost on the icy planes of E.D.N. III For the rest of the game, Wayne Holden fights snow pirates, as well as other aliens.

Basically the game shares a lot of common characterisitics with halo. The main character fights off all of the bad aliens and attempts to save himself as well as mankind.

We chose this game because it looks fun and some of our team members have played it before. I myslef have not, but I look forward to it.

Guns, explosions, mech battles, giant insects. Lost Planet has it all, andmore. You take on the role of a snow pirate named Wayne, who oddly enough, canonly remember his name.

Game Description Continued• The Enemies:Plant -> Small akrid, usually have spawn points which can be destroyed.

Akrid they aren't very harmful, but large groups of them can cause Wayneto stagger. There are explosive akrid much like these ones encount-ered in later levels. Shoot them from afar to avoid being damaged.

Trilid -> Small, flying akrid. Usually have spawn points which can bedestroyed. They are not very harmful, but a large swarm of themcan cause Wayne to stagger as they crash into him. Shoot themanywhere to kill them.

Chryatis -> Large, aggressive akrid. Their weak spot is on their abdomen. Onfoot, try to get behind them, or roll into them and shoot at theweak point with a strong weapon such as a shotgun. In a VS, jumpor slide dash around them and unload into their weak spot. Thereis a large form of Chryatis, they are much more deadly. Approachwith caution. If you aren't in a VS, don't even think about it.

Dongo -> Large, rolling akrid. The weak spot is on the tail. Watch out asthey roll around and can cause some heavy damage to you. Eitherwait for them to roll past you, then turn around and shoot theirtail as they are facing away from you. In a VS, jump or slidedash around them. There is a large form of dongo, be very careful.It is best not to consider going up against one when not in a VS.Explosive VS weapons work best.

Game Description continued• Scorpion -> Large akrid found in warm environments. There are two versions of

Akrid this akrid, one with the weak point on the base of its tail andanother with the weak point being on the bottom of its thorax. Forthe tail one, use a rifle to shoot the base of the tail. On thenormal difficulty level, one shot with a rifle will kill thecreature. For the thorax weak point, throw a grenade under theakrid and shoot it to make it explode.

Human -> Snow pirates and NEVEC soldiers. Can wield a variety of weaponsEnemies including machine gun, rocket launcher and energy weapons. Snowpirates generally carry machine guns and rocket launchers, whileNEVEC soldiers use energy weapons.

Enemy -> You will encounter pretty much every type of VS. Can be destroyedVS in a variety of different ways. Grenades, explosive weapons, andin later levels the EM laser is ideal. VS that have unarmoredcockpits can have their pilot ejected if they are shot at with arifle or other weapon.

Sentry -> Found in certain NEVEC facilities. When their red laser is trippedBots they will follow you relentlessly, blasting you with their lasers.When not firing, they are protected by an armor plating. Waituntil they open their plate to fire, and shoot their weak spot.Explosive weapons work best.

My History with Lost Planet

• Before starting this unit, I had never played or heard of the game “Lost Planet.”

• Our group decided to choose this game because the other team members had enjoyed playing it and thought it would be a good game to evaluate.

Walkthrough

• In the beginning of the game, you start out on a menu, just like in most other games. After selecting that you want to play a "new" game, you are asked what level you want to play at. Normal is what I would choose.

Walk Through

• You are then brought to the beginning screen and you begin to shoot at the Akrid. You navigate through the enclosed building, taking care of all the problems encountered on the way. The first mission is more of a chance to get to know your character, and learn how to use the different weapons/functions.

Second Level Walk ThroughMission 01

• The idea of this mission is to infiltrate the akrid hive. Once inside you attempt to fight off all enemies and drive them out. After, you must navigate your way through a cave, destroying akrid and any other stragglers. Towards the end of this level, you will run into three terrifying "bosses." One good strategy here is to first kill the smalledt and then work your way up, finally killing the biggest one.

Mission 01: Pic.

Third Level Walk ThroughMission 02

• The next level is called: "Stronghold assault." In this mission you must go through a city. You must be cautious because there are many aliens hidden under the snow waiting to attack you. When they jump out quickly kill them and continue on.

Mission 02

• You will have to make your way to a building full of akrid, as well as humans under the control of the snow pirates. Kill all of them. You will eventually make it to a train tunnel. You should attack from the roof, then on ground level. You will make it to the a "boss" and will engage him on the roof.

Mission 02: Pic.

Rubric

• The Rubric will be used to evaluate Lost Planet.

• Each subject will be graded along with an explanation of the grade.

Point of View- Awareness of Audience

• 3, I feel Lost Planet is aware of the audience point of view, but at times the game does get confusing and difficult to follow. Also the settings are quite odd, which also adds to the confusion of game play, for me anyway.

Voice-Consistency

• 4, I chose to give Lost Planet a 4 on the voice because of a few reasons. One, is the level of sound was considerably good and you can understand most eerything that is said or that happens. I never felt that I needed a "clarification" on what was said. But overall there wasn't much talking going on, or anything that players needed to listen to.

Images

• 4, I feel Lost Planet deserves a 4 on my analysis of the use of images. I chose to give it a 4 because all of the different images and scenes in the game correspond with the games plot. I also feel that the designers "went outside the box." There is a lot of incredibly weird and random scenes that you encounter while playing Lost Planet. I like that the designers decided to not just make "another" game. Lost Planet is an original game with a

lot of imaginary thoughts and actions.

Point of View

• 4, I gave ost Planet a 4 on it's "purpo se" because right from the beginning I knew what I was supposed to be fighting for and what needed to be accomplished. The game accomplished this from the beginnning by providing a small story line that introduced the story and plot to the players.

Sound Track-Emotion

• 2 I think Lost Planet could have improved on the sound track that was used. From what I can recall, the music is minimal and it is slow with periods of more intense noise. I would have liked to have seen more action music while I was playing the game.

Economy

• 3 I cannot give a very accurate grade on this category because I was unable to play for very long. The time my team was provided with was cut short, so I experienced only about an hour of game play. But from what I did observe, there was an ample amount of information provided during game play. This was done through clicking on sources as well as hint tips that some up on the screen.

Dramatic Question

• Because of the lack of game play I was unable to finish the game. My team and I were only able to get through level two. From what I did see, everything that happened was reasonably expected. So from what I experienced I

would grade Lost Planet and give a 3.

Engagement

• 4 I feel Lost Planet deserves a 4 for engagement because my entire team had to be told numerous times to stop playing. Therefore this shows me that the game is addictive and it is very easy to get caught up in the game and want to conitnue playing.

Complexity

• 3 Lost Planet is a complex game, but it does share a reasonable amount of characteristics with other games like Halo, etc. Also there is not too many options available to you, enabling you to make critical decisions through out game play.

Rules

• 2 At first I was very confused at what my character was able to do, and what he was not able to do. The rules are layed out in a way that you have to play the game to understand everything.

Usability

• 3 I was able to start off dry and work my way through Lost Planet right from the start. Confusion was minimal and there was nothing too complicated, that I was unable to understand.

Learning Roles

• 1 slide per group member

• Give main points of how you answered the question in your essay– Each one of the Learning Role Questions

should was answered in the form of a short essay of 3 paragraphs or more, and should include have included evidence or support from your game playing experience.

• Touch upon your major points from the essay

Group Contributions

• I feel each member of our group contributed to the success of our project.

• Each member brought a different perspective to the table.

• We all talked about the game and how to beat some of the levels, so different strategies were also used.

My Contributions

• My role was to go around and look at the other kids projects. I did run into a problem with this because there were not many other groups that actually brought in any game systems. But I did observe the small amount of kids in my area and saw what others did.

Dashawn’s Contribution

• Dashawn was the supplier of the game. He not only brought the Lost Planet to school, he brought his expensive Xbox 360 in for all of us to play. This was probably the most important contribution because without the game, we couldn’t have made accurate observations.

Alex’s Contributions

• Alex was in charge of writing and note taking. He made observations on the game as we played it. His noted we later referred to when we did the walk through.

Nick’s Contributions

• Nick was like our group’s police officer. He kept us all on track and doing what we were supposed to be doing. Because of him we finished in the time we were provided with.

Reflection

• I think this project is worth doing. It gives students a chance to look at games deeper than they would usually. Learning while having fun is a good combination. We all agree that we had a good time doing this project and would do it again.