Game Studies | Exercises 1 & 2
23/04/2025 - 05/06/2025 | (Week 1- Week 7)
Nadia Chong Wen | 0355736 |
Bachelor's of Design (Honours) in Creative Media
Game Studies | Exercise
1 & 2
Table of Contents
- Lecture Notes
- Instructions
- Exercise 1 | Game Analysis
- Exercise 2 | Non-digital to Digital - Evolution and Remediating this game
- Reflection
1. Lecture Notes
Week 1
Week 2
2. Instructions
3. Exercises
For the exercises, I have to investigate, continuously analogue digital games to identify gameplay patterns and concepts.
3.1. Exercise 1 | Game Analysis
Introduction
For the first week, we were told to analyze our favorite game of all time in depth when it comes to gameplay and concept thoroughly. With this in mind, I decided to make an analysis of one of my all-time favorite games, Hollow Knight by Team Cherry.
Hollow Knight is a souls-inspired Metroidvania Platformer game known for its addicting gameplay and difficulty. It follows the adventure of a mute protagonists that is a small bug-like creature only known as The Knight. It ventures through the fallen kingdom of Hallownest that is being plagued by something only known as the Infection with the objective to defeat the Hollow Knight.
This game was developed as an indie game developed by Team Cherry and released February 24, 2017. The game is available in Steam (MacOS and Windows), Nintendo Switch, and PS4 and is only available in single-player in the base game without mods.
It is currently one of the most beloved game of its genre with its 2D hand-drawn animated graphics, gameplay, exploration, engaging battles, DLCs that come free with the base game, and more. It's sequel, "Hollow Knight: Silksong" grew to be one of the most anticipated sequels for multiple years as well.
Figure 1.2 | Steam Page Store
In Hollow Knight, players take control of a character called The Knight. Players are then introduced to the simpler controls of the game such as walking, jumping, and using the weapon called a Nail to attack destructible walls and creatures.
Figure 1.3 | Dirtmouth
After the initial area known as King's Pass, the Knight will drop down to an area called "Dirtmouth" where most of the future items that will assist in the Knight's journey through Hallownest will be sold in due time. The NPC character, known as "Elder Bug," is the only NPC available to interact with at the beginning of the game which gives a glimpse on the game's deeper lore and dangers while directing the player to the next area. The entrance to the Kingdom of Hallownest through dropping down the well.
What Makes This Game Playful?
1. Addictive & Challenging Combat
You have the chance to explore the vast ruins of what remains of the once great kingdom. The player is free to go wherever they like to a certain extent, getting lost in the world and the environment around. However, danger lingers in every corner and the Knight has to fight against multiple foes in his way.
The Knight will get access to multiple spells that will aid in its adventure that range from Spells, Nail Arts (Charge Attacks), Items that will allow for dashing and double jumping, and Boosts from equipment called "Charms."
Figure 1.5 | Charms
Combat is simple and easy to learn to get used to. As the game progresses, it challenges you to not only use the base controls to its fullest of your skills as you improve but also implement the abilities that you have gained into your kit as well.
Every fight challenges you with your skills with its difficulty spikes and ability to react and make choices in the best way possible which makes the combat both exciting and nerve-wrecking with the possibility to gain heavy damage on certain bosses with certain bosses.
For example in Figure 1.5, it is an example of a challenge area that gives you a high reward for completing it. However if you die, you'd have to start from the beginning again and go through the hard parts and so you would wish to not mess up at all. With all this combined, combat causes the positive feedback loop.
2. Exploration & Background
One of my favorite parts of the game is Exploration. You could just go wherever you wanted in the Kingdom of Hallownest and stumble into areas without knowing with the right abilities unlocked.
While you could buy the maps and be able to see where you're going, you could always end up in a completely new area that you could traverse in once you gained two of the most essential abilites in the game. It's easy to get lost in this world and the curiosity of exploration often and let time pass really quickly.
After all, the backgrounds are drawn quite beautifully and takes your breath away. With a glance, you could feel the area and at times, even its history and what the civilization of Hallownest used to be.
3. DLCs & Game Modes
The multiple DLCs the game provides for free after you get the game is one of the favorite parts of players who played this game. It transitions seamlessly into the base game and allows players to explore more lore about the world of Hollow Knight and Hallownest.
It also provides for things like extra bosses and new abilities that could be collected. Even an entirely new ending could be unlocked with the addition of the final DLC of the game when you finish the boss rush game mode that DLC provides.
When you complete the game the first time, you'd be introduced to the other base game mode called Steel Soul mode where death in the game is permanent and therefore makes every action you do much more nerve-wrecking as any mistake could cost you your run. (I have attempted this way too many times.) When you do manage to beat it though, it just gives the big sense of accomplishment.
Godseeker is the game mode that is unlocked after you get a certain ending in the game (No spoiling) and gives the player access to go through boss rushes.
Conclusion
Hollow Knight is a game that is extremely close to my heart ever since it came out back in 2017. It showcases the end result for indie game developers passion and love for their game and became a game that many has called a masterpiece of a metroidvania and a source of inspiration for many other games like it as well.
Players could always go back and play it again and again, wondering if they could do a hitless run of the game. It provides players with satisfaction through sound, scenery, and gameplay. The game rewards the player for improving their skills and exploring the world, with every boss fight ending and making each run feel meaningful. In both visuals and gameplay and even the background lore, Hollow Knight completely sold me on its game.
3.2. Exercise 2 | Non-digital to Digital - Evolution and Remediating
For this exercise, we have to identify a non-digital game which has been converted into a digital version. And so for this exercise, I decided to choose the game I'm most familiar with. The game that made friendships and broke them apart, UNO! and its online counterpart, UNO! by Ubisoft.
UNO! was originally a card game made by a barber in Ohio named Merle Robbins to settle an argument with his son about the rules of another card game called Crazy Eights with his family. He eventually sold UNO as a brand to his friends and now UNO is one of the most well-known card games in the entire world due to its simplicity in rules and gameplay.
The rules of original UNO are really simple. Every player (2-10 players) get 7 cards that are dealt face down with the rest of the cards being draw cards. A card would be drawn and placed face up and players will have to take turns to put a card with a corresponding number or color to the previous card. If the player doesn't have those, they draw a card. The goal of the game is to finish the deck in your hand, and the player with one card remaining must yell "UNO!" or they'd have to draw extra cards. In order to make things more fun, the game has wild cards such as reverse, skip, draw +2, wild (change color), and wild +4.
Differences and similarity of Play Dimension
The core gameplay of UNO and it's digital version is still the same. Players still draw 7 cards at the beginning of the game and whoever finishes their deck wins. However, the digital version has a unique system to it.
When it comes to card numbers "0" and "7," these cards have special effects which causes more chaos to the game. When a player places down "0," the decks of all players are switched to the players on their side and a "7" allows the player that played it to switch with another player's deck. It is also possible to "Jump In" with a card that is the same number as one of the cards you currently have. Most hilarious of all, it is possible to draw a large amount of cards that wouldn't be physically possible.
Unlike its physical counterpart, the digital UNO allows for customization of cards and allows the player to play alone (with bots). The cards and effects are animated in a smooth way and the decks are instantly set-up and ready for you when you and other players are ready.
Benefits and Disadvantages of Three-Dimensional
The Benefits for UNO becoming three-dimensional is that you would be able to play with your friends who have the game installed at any time even when you're apart. This was one of the reasons why this game was popular during the Covid Era as well. You can play the game anytime you want, even alone.
However, one of the disadvantages would be that due to the extra game mechanics the digital version introduced is that it'll take longer for UNO game session to be done compared to when its traditionally played.
Conclusion
UNO on Steam was able to successfully transition from just a tabletop game to a digital medium that allows many others who are not close to each play this familiar game. The core gameplay is still the same with the tabletop version with a few twists that make the game more exciting in a digital medium. As many people are already familiar with the gameplay, it is easy for players to familiarize themselves with both versions easily.
4. Reflection
Experience:
It feels really wonderful to be able to talk about my favorite game in such detail. While I was already familiar with what made me attracted to the game as a player and consumer, I was able to go into a deep dive on what made the game so unique and stand out to me. It was also interesting to explore how despite being the same game, UNO on Steam was able to adapt the card game really well and add its own twists.
Observation:
There is a lot of work that goes into making games in any way or form. The amount of detail that I found in Hollow Knight through the analysis made me feel awe at Team Cherry once more. There is a lot of work that needs to be analysed in order to give a consistent positive feedback loop that causes players to keep wanting to play more and more even after they're frustrated.
Findings:
This exercise made me realize how much creativity and thought was put into the production of not only Hollow Knight as an indie masterpiece but also as how UNO as a card game was adapted into digital form to become its own unique game that would be played around the world. It is hard to pull off a game that remains consistent and more enjoyable as the game goes on and on. I find myself truly respecting the art in it.
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