RYAN GARCIA ››
ASSIGNMENT THREE | SEPT 17, 2006 ››
Download a free trial version of the following game:
SimCity
following questions:
- What is the genre and "high concept" of the game?
- In what way does the game design consider "player empathy"?
- Explain the types of "feedback" that are provided during game play.
- In what sense is the player "grounded" by the game interaction?
- List and explain at least 3 options that a player has on a moment-to-moment basis.
- What aspects of game play seemed tedious or unnecessary?
- What features of the game helped you feel immersed enough that you were compelled to continue playing?
- What aspects of the game were enjoyable?
- What aspects of the game are educational?
- How would you improve the game design?
- What type of person would buy this game?
SIM CITY 2000 GAME REVIEW ››
- What is the genre and "high concept" of the game?
Sim City 2000 is god game, simulation or "Software Toy." The game's high concept is described as follows "In SimCity you are the mayor of an up and coming town. You must manage up your city's infrastructure, zoning, transportation and population. Fight crime and pollution and make sure the people don't kick you out of office for running a poorly managed town."
sources: http://www.mobygames.com/game/simcity/
http://www.sc3000.com/knowledge/history_classic.cfm
- In what way does the game design consider "player empathy"?
In my case, SimCity had absolutely no empathy. I was left guessing what I had to do at each moment (Including the download of a Mac compatible version). Maybe it's because I had never played a "god game" before. As soon as I got the game working I created a new city, then I was shown the news paper telling me what the city needs, at which point I thought it was good. However when I started playing it it was a whole different story. More on this in the following question.
- Explain the types of "feedback" that are provided during game play.
SimCity 2000 has plenty of feedback, like the newspaper, a pop-up window that shows people protesting the destruction of the forest and so on. Every now and then you get a window that tells you the budget for the year and your own panel of experts which give advice on what the city needs. SimCity 2000 also provides plenty of visual feedback but not always very clear (here is where I ran into problems). What I mean is this, if I clicked on the icon for a police station and then I returned to the map and created one I would clearly see a police station "building" but when I would pick the icon for residential homes and tried creating a residential area, the only visual representation was a color square. That drove me crazy because I didn't know if they would be constructed later, was I doing something wrong or if I needed more people in my town, what? Needless to say, I found my self yelling at the screen quite often.
- In what sense is the player "grounded" by the game interaction?
All of the issues mentioned in the last question also affected how grounded I felt in the game, because I only had a vague idea of my goals from reading the newspaper at the beginning of the city. I suppose being that it is a "software toy" the player can set their own goals even when the city needs something in particular the player can choose the complete opposite. That being the case the player never runs out of goals to achieve.
- List and explain at least 3 options that a player has on a moment-to-moment basis.
SimCity 2000 allows for a crazy amount of options at any given moment. Like planting trees, building roads, adjusting the city's budget and my personal favorite (since it helped alleviate my frustration), cause a natural disaster.
- What aspects of game play seemed tedious or unnecessary?
I could write a book. Maybe newer versions of SimCity or even the full version of SimCity 2000 offer a lot more help on what a player should do when a color square appears instead of building. I good training tutorial would have helped at the beginning of the game. Maybe it was the trial version or maybe I'm just dense, but plop "The Legend of Zelda" in front of me and I can tell you the location of practically every item.
- What features of the game helped you feel immersed enough that you were compelled to continue playing?
The game is definitely feature-rich. If I had any interest in how to run and manage a city it would have kept me immersed for hours on end. The level of detail was impressive even for an older game.The accuracy in a city's needs even underground sewer-system was a little overwhelming for me.
- What aspects of the game were enjoyable?
I enjoyed disasters! But no, really I did enjoy placing buildings and modifying the terrain. Adding trees and making the rivers and roads were also some of my favorite things to do.
- What aspects of the game are educational?
I'm sure it would be a great educational game for anyone who would want to gain a loose understanding of how a city is run.
- How would you improve the game design?
Being that I played for a long time and still didn't get very far in the game the game left me wondering why so many people like the game. I don't know I'm still frustrated with it, I thought the game design was visually great, but the usability poor. It could've just been the trial.
- What type of person would buy this game?
Someone with a lot of patience that is interested in the inner-workings of a city and I would guess someone who likes to have control.