Analyzing Games

          What does it mean to analyze a game? It could mean several things, actually. Most commonly it just means examining how a game operates on its mechanics and dynamics. It’s also helpful to know what makes a game terrible and what makes it great. This is crucial to game design and even when reviewing games. 

          For designers, it’s good to know how to analyze so you can figure out how a game works. The best way to do this is to take any game you own and just play it. If you’ve played for a long enough time (in my case since I was barely 4), you can spot things that can break a game. I’m not referring to glitches or graphical errors. I mean certain mechanics that do not entertain you or something redundant. An example: in Twilight Princess, rupees are a type of currency. Thing is, you may only carry up to a certain amount. The game gives you way too many rupees to work with and most of the time you end up losing out on getting rupees simply because your wallet is full. Fortunately, the developers did try to combat this, but did a poor job of it. There is a suit of armor that supposedly grants the best protection. As you wear it, your wallet is drained of rupees. This was meant to combat the excessive amount of rupees lying around, but it drained so fast that within minutes I was broke. The worst part is once you have 0 rupees, the armor inhibits your movement. It’s a terrible piece of armor and this issue could have been fixed by simply making rupees more scarce or possibly making items cost more.

          Another example is taking an existing game and making something that could arguably be a clone of it. I’m not saying “copy this game.” I just mean look at a game and see if you can come up with something better. Galactic Café did this with Freedom Planet. They made a game clearly based around Sonic with similar mechanics and dynamics, but it ended up being a lot better. As revered as Sonic may be, the biggest problem I had with that game is being forcefully slowed down. The point of that game is to zip through levels at high speeds. The thrill of being in control of something that powerful is what made the game franchise amazing. Then they throw these obstacles that stop your movement completely and the worst part is you can’t see them coming because the screen is moving so quickly. Freedom Planet did away with that and let you run as fast as possible. They also threw in explorative level design and added a timer that counted up rather than down. You could take as long as you wanted on a level, but that timer just let you know how long you’ve been running around. It was a fantastic game thanks to those changes.

          As for a game critic, you analyze games mostly for their entertainment value. You may have to give some feedback on the aesthetic and graphics quality, but the most important part is the gameplay itself. Should the game prove to be boring, a critic’s job is to point that out and explain why it’s boring. This can be subjective based on the critic’s skill at games overall and if the game is meant to appeal to a certain demographic, especially if it’s a children’s game. Providing feedback on these games is helpful to game developers as it tells them what they did wrong and how they can make improvements in a future title. 

          The best way to improve in your analyzing skills is to, of course, play as many games as possible. It’s even better if you vary up the genre. What if you don’t have a games console? That’s alright. You can learn a ton about game design just by watching people play. You just have to know what to look for. Look at gameplay for a big mainstream title that didn’t do so well critically and compare it to an indie game that ended up being a hit. The differences can be mind blowing! Compare simple mechanics to complex rules and you will notice a difference. Good games do not have to be expensive to make nor do they have to be overly intricate. Just try to make something fun and understandable to start off.