Hotline Miami and Overwatch- Assignment 1

P1, M1 and D1- Hotline Miami and Overwatch

Introduction:

In this blog, I will be comparing and breaking down two games - Hotline Miami  (A retro, arcade, shoot'em up) and Overwatch (An online, multiplayer, first person shooter game). By breaking them down, many arguments and opinions will arise from the different Game-play and visual elements of the games. Due to their different genres, many of these arguments will be opinionated as different people prefer different types of games. And so throughout this blog, i will be giving my own opinions of what i believe to be the best game-play and visual elements presented within these games and why.

 

Visual Style:

The world of Hotline Miami - Hotline Miami is set in 1989 Miami. The environment of the game is filled with bright colors and flashing lights due to the various clubs, bars and apartments you visit within the game. The architecture of the game is extremely basic due to the game being top down and based within the same kind of areas. An example of the type of colors, objects and architecture of Hotline Miami can be seen within this picture: 

This image displays basic objects such as chairs, tables and plants whilst reflecting the brightly lit colors which the game uses. By doing this, the atmosphere is basic yet exciting through the bright colors contrasted with basic objects and architecture.

• The world of Overwatch - Overwatch is set in a dystopian future where humans are living alongside robots (or as they are named in the game, omnics). And due to this, the future in this game is extremely high tech and brightly colored. The maps within this game are mainly based in or around large, futuristic, cities packed with skyscrapers and high-tech cars. The objects, colors and architecture are all extremely bright and high-tech due to this cyber world. Normal items we have today are shown such as cars, tables and chairs but are made much more futuristic as seen in these images from some of the maps within the game:

Due to the Visual style of this game, arguments can be seen due to the setting of the game. This argument being: is a game setting better in the future, past or present? In my own opinion, I believe that having a setting within the present or past time of a game is the best way to generate a game. I believe this because it means the objects and architecture of the game is much more recognizable for the player (as it is real and current to them) and also makes it much easier for the designers of the game as they can see real pictures of the place. This means the gaming worlds and environments can be generated much more easily and detailed as the places currently exist. Unlike in a future game where things must all be created from scratch. 

The characters of Hotline Miami - Through out Hotline Miami you play two characters, both unnamed but have been dubbed the names of 'Jacket' and 'Biker'. For the prelude and the first 15 chapters of the game you play as Jacket, and for the last 4 you play as Biker (giving the game a total of 20 chapters). Not much is known about either Jacket or Biker, except Jacket wears a variety of masks within the game which give him access to varying abilities such as fists which kill enemies in one hit (from a tiger mask) And being gifted a knife upon the start of a chapter (from a wolf mask). Biker cannot access any of these masks as instead he wears a biker helmet and can wield a butcher knife and three throwing knifes as his weapon. All that is known about the two characters is they both are connected to a hotline in which certain assassination missions are given to take out Russian mafia members. These characters can be seen below (Jacket on the left, Biker on the right). Having two players to play as within Hotline Miami is a great element as it makes it so the storyline of the game can be seen within two perspectives. This is due to the fact it goes through two different characters eyes of how things pan out, such as a scene within the game where Jacket kills Biker (when you play as Jacket) However when you then go on to play as Biker in the last four chapters, instead you kill Jacket. This forces the player to pick a side on which event really happened; did Biker kill Jacket, or did Jacket kill Biker? And by doing this, adds an exciting element of choice and discussion to the games story line.

                                   

• The Characters of Overwatch - In Overwatch you are given an entire roster of characters to pick from when playing the game. At launch there where 20 heroes which are playable within the game and overtime the developers of the game are  adding in many more for the player to play as. Each character within the game has their own small profile and backstory, and each contain a unique play style and set of abilities. As an example, one of the characters named Reinhardt has a giant hammer as his weapon, a giant barrier which he can use to shield his team mates, a charge ability which can pin enemies to the wall and deal massive damage and a firestrike which is a projectile that he can fire from his hammer. Each character has varying abilities and all abilities have a cool down, forcing the players to plan the perfect time to use their abilities.  Each character also has an ultimate attack which is charged from dealing damage to the enemy team. Once the ultimate bar has reached 100%, the player can unleash their ultimate upon the enemy. And like abilities, each of the characters ultimate attacks vary. The character roster can be seen below, with an ability showcase of the character Tracer below:

 

A comparison can then be made between the characters within Hotline Miami and the characters within Overwatch. The character Jacket could be seen as multiple characters much like in Overwatch as he has different masks which give him different abilities, and in Overwatch you can choose different characters for different abilities. However, it raises the question of 'is it better for a game to have one or few characters, or is it better to have many characters?'. And like  all of these questions, its really down to opinion. However in my opinion, I believe that it is much better to keep with fewer or just one character within a game rather than many. And I think this because by having fewer characters, the player gains more of a bond and understanding with one character rather than with many. And by having a stronger bond, the player becomes more engaged with the game and what to do in certain situations with that character. And so in this argument, I believe that having one or two characters is better as you are able to form a stronger bond and understanding of that character than with multiple ones. But again, its down to opinion, so if you prefer to play as multiple characters within a game and have a range of abilities and play styles then of course more characters is better.

The NPC's of Hotline Miami - The NPC'S (Non-playing character) within the game are mainly enemies (the Russian mafia). And so have basic programming to simply attack the player when they come into view. However there are other NPC's (Bosses and Neutral NPC's which cannot be killed) Who are able to interact with the player by talking to them. Bosses within the game have unique interactions with the player which separates them from the average enemy. Bosses also have special weapons to use against the player and usually are able to withstand more damage than a typical enemy. The Neutral NPC's within the game cannot harm the player in any way and usually give small pieces of dialogue which reflect the players actions from a chapter they just completed and also give small pieces of the storyline to help the player put the story into a bigger picture. And so the element of NPC's are extremely good as they give the player a harsh challenge (through the enemy NPC's attacking them), unique and intresting interactions and tough challenges again through the Bosses and little pieces of the story through the Neutral NPC's. Below are pictures of an enemy, a Boss and a Neutral NPC: 

         

• The NPC's of Overwatch - Due to Overwatch being a multiplayer game, there are no actual NPC's within the game as all the characters are controlled by people. However there are modes such as the 'practice range' and 'VS AI' which bring AI into the game for the player to fight against. The idea of this is to help the player improve with accuracy so that when they go into the real game against human players, they will be able to fight more effectively. And so NPC's have only been used in the game as a practice tool for the player rather than an actual part of the game. You are also able to set the difficulty of the AI to match your skill level, and gradly can improve the difficulty as you improve your skills. The practise range NPC's simply have a movement pattern in which they move back and fourth or left to right. These options are seen below:

                                    

From this, no real argument can arise due to different games needing different types of NPC's. An online multiplayer shooter has no need for NPC's except for practice, but a single player obviously will otherwise there will be no enemies or characters to interact with. 

Feedback Interface of Hotline Miami- Hotline Miami has an extremely simple Feedback Interface. A Feedback Interface is what information is being displayed that monitors the players progress in the game. In Hotline Miami the only feedback interface you get is seen in the top right of the screen which gives you a total points score from the current chapter. When you kill an enemy, an on screen score will pop up depending on how you killed them and next to it a multiplier will appear for if you have chained multiple kills. That is the only things are displayed on screen in Hotline Miami, and so keeps the Feedback Interface very simple. When you die, it simply displays a message covering your point bar saying 'You're dead' and in the bottom left says 'Press R to try again'. If you pick up a gun it will then display how many bullets you have in the bottom left. I think this is a good element to the game because it means you dont have to focus on multiple things on screen, unlike in some games such as street fighter in which you have to pay attention to your health bar, Super move bar, Timer and wins. 

                                  

Feedback Interface of Overwatch - Overwatch has quite a busy feedback Interface on screen and displays: The abilites you have and their cooldowns, your health, an icon of the character you are playing, your ammo, your hot meter bar, your ultimate meter, the objectives that you need to capture and the time you have left. When you get kills/assists the persons name who you killed/assist killed pops up in the middle of your screen and displays the amount of hot points you get from killing them. And so Overwatch has an extremely busy Feedback interface due to the amount of information and progress being displayed on the screen whilst you are playing. An example can be seen here:


                                 


And so an argument can arise from this asking the question of 'is an advanced feedback interface better than a simple feedback interface. And my opinion on this is that a simple feedback interface is much better. I believe this because it means there is much less information to have to take in and your screen is much less clustered with information. When playing, i dont want to have to keep track of a load of information which is being displayed all at once, making it harder to play the game. And so when looking at both games feedback interfaces, i much prefer Hotline Miami's simple interface compared to the advanced interface of Overwatch. However, again some people may prefer a more advanced interface as it gives them much more detail so can plan their attacks more efficiently and make sure they dont run out of ammo or abilities when engaging in a fight.

Hotline Miami Perspectives - Hotline Miami is played from a top down perspective. This means that the player is looking down on the character, and allows for the player to see if enemies are hiding behind doors or objects. I think that this kind of perspective is extremely good as it allows for strategies to be made due to the player being able to look into other areas of the map and lay out tactics to deal with enemies in particular areas.  

                                     

• Overwatch Perspective - Overwatch is played from a first person perspective. This means that you are positioned to look at things from the characters point of view. This is a great perspective as it means you are able to 'become' the character as you are seeing what they are seeing and can truly immerse yourself into the game as you feel as though you are that character. 

                        

This then raises the argument of which perspective is the best when playing a game, and in my opinion it has to be first person. Being in a first person perspective truly puts you in the drivers seat of the game and allows you to truly take control of your character by being placed in their point of view. When in a first person perspective, you become that character and get immersed as you see everything that they see. Again this is all down to opinion, but to truly get into a characters head and play as them, the best way to go is with the first person perspective. However some people could argue a third person or top down point of view is better as they can see much more than just straight in front of the character, meaning they can plan strategies and see enemies behind them. And so Overwatch's perspective in my opinion beats Hotline Miami's.

Hotline Miami's FMV - Hotline Miami contains no FMV (Full motion video) And instead just gives scripted dialogue in game which you can read through. FMV is pre-recorded video files which are then played when an event is triggered, which covers the screen with an event that the player has no control over. I believe that it is a good element to not include FMV within video games as I believe FMV takes the player out of what is going on. 

Overwatch's FMV - Again with Overwatch there is no FMV as it contains no cut scenes or breaks other than loading screens when entering the game. Official animated shorts have been released for the game which show bits of the games story within an animation, but are not featured in the game. But I believe this is a good element of the game as I often finds FMV takes me out of the game, as previously discussed, which doesn't allow a full immersion into the game and what is going on. An image from an animated short can be seen below: 

And so the argument is, is it better for a game to have FMV or to have no FMV. I believe that no FMV is the best option as often when you are playing a game and trigger a cut scene you then cannot control what happens and so are taken out of the game to simply watch what happens. However some people will enjoy FMV within games as they may want a game which is like a story so needs not much user interaction and just has the game play out whilst you move the character along, and some people enjoy cut scenes due to them giving small bits of information and scenes which cannot be replicated within the actual game world. But personally when I play a video game, I want to play as much as possible and fully get immersed into the experience, so dont want to be taken out by FMV. Especially if the FMV looks nothing like the actual game and looks more like a movie.


Game play: 

• Interaction Model - The interaction model is the way that the player is controlled and represented within a game and how a player interacts within the game world. Within this, there are avatar interaction models (which is the players interaction through the avatar) and omnipresence interaction model (which is having control over game characters and the gaming worlds). And so the interaction models used in both Overwatch and Hotline Miami is the avatar interaction models as you are playing as the character and only the character, so can interact with the environment only via them. An example of the Omnipresence interaction can be seen in such games as the sims and city skylines as you are given complete control over buildings and characters. In my opinion, I believe that having an avatar interaction model is much better as I enjoy being able to interact and see things from a character/s instead of having complete control over the environment. And also because Omnipresence interaction models are only really featured within strategy games or simulation games (which I do not enjoy) I much prefer a game which has the avatar model (such as story driven games or shooter games). Shown below is an example of both (Omnipresence on the left as the sims and Avatar on the right as uncharted) 

   

• Single player or Multiplayer - Hotline Miami is a single player game and Overwatch is a multiplayer game. A single player game is a game which can only be played by one person, and a multiplayer game is a game which can have two or more people play. In my own opinion, I prefer a game which is only/heavily based on the single player element rather than the multiplayer element. I believe this because in a multiplayer game there are often people who can annoy you or try to mess with you whilst you are playing which I find can often ruin the experience of the game. However in a single player game you are left to your own devices and are put in a much more peaceful environment to get on with things on your own. And when you finish a single player game it truly feels rewarding as you know you haven't had any help from others. I also find that single player games often have much, much better storylines than multiplayer games (as shown in Overwatch and Hotline Miami as  Hotline Miamis storyline is quite mysterious and detailed, unlike Overwatch's which hasn't really been showed or developed much within the game). 

            

• Narrative - A narrative is a spoken or written account of connected events; a story. Within Overwatch the story is just being told through various animated shorts, comics and things outside of the game instead of inside it. However, with Hotline Miami the story is told through the two characters of the game: Jacket and Biker. However due to Biker and Jacket both being 'unreliable narrators' due to them being psychotic killers, the games storyline is a bit mysterious. And so the accounts of Hotline Miami are much less clear when compared to Overwatch due to the narration of Overwatch being told and given as fact, unlike Hotline Miami's which are being told as a serious of events by untrustworthy narrators. Within Hotline Miami, the storyline can be seen to be unreliable as the chapters within the game are presented out of chronological order; showing that the events are unclear and muddled up. In my own opinion I much prefer the kind of narrative shown within Hotline Miami, which is shown from the actual characters point of view (even if it is muddled.) By doing this you only see what they see and so get fully immersed within the game, unlike with Overwatches which is shown from the game developers point and reveals everything about the game. This type of narration I find to be quite plain and boring and don't have to piece anything together about the storyline, unlike when its being told by the narrator. And so Overwatches story is just given to you in facts and bio's so dont even need to play the game to understand it, you can just read it. But with Hotline Miami's you need to play it and piece it together yourself. (Image on the right showing a character dialogue sequence and on the right is a bio of one of the Overwatch characters Lucio.

 

• Game setting - As discussed in the visual style, Hotline Miami and Overwatch have extremely different worlds. The physical setting of Hotline Miami matches the games storyline or setting. The chapters within the game are all set within Russian apartments, buildings and night clubs. This is appropriate to the games story as you are sent to kill these Russians and so will obviously be sent to where they are, and typically they are going to be at their apartments, hideouts and night clubs. The Temporal setting of the game is also quite clear as shown through the props and objects of the game that it is in 1989. Especially with the type of clothing worn by the characters, the cars they drive (Jackets being like the car from back to the future) and also through the types of stores Jacket visits - an example being a VHS store, and as at the time DVD's didn't exist. The environmental setting within Hotline Miami stays basically the same all through the game, however towards the last chapters the setting begins to get extremely rainy and stormy. This happens as it is foreshadowing bad or evil events which are going to take place and also foreshadow the end of the game. The emotional setting of Hotline Miami is extremely harsh and brutal. After all the dialogue sequences, Jacket will often kill and brutally murder the person he was talking to. This shows a deep hatred for what is going on and reflects the true emotions of Jacket and how he likes to hurt people. The ethical setting for Hotline Miami is extremely brutal. You are usually forced to kill every character in a level, even if they have done nothing wrong or beg for mercy. The game forces you to make harsh and brutal decisions, hence the games 18+ rating. Through all these game setting from Hotline Miami, it makes the game highly brutal and hyper-emotional. 

 Overwatch's Physical game world matches the storyline, and this is because the levels are all     places where things within the story has happened, such as a temple called Hanamura which   was a map from the animated short where two Overwatch members (and brothers) had a showdown. The Temporal setting of the game clearly shows the time period as well. The futuristic cities and objects spread around the various maps clearly reflect the technological and architectural advances of the future. The environmental setting within the game are the same depending on what map you are playing on. Different maps have different weather and so various. The map has a constant weather effect and so for example on Hanamura, the weather is always sunny and never changes.The emotional setting of Overwatch is essentially non existent due to not much interaction or emotion shown by the characters when playing. However, at the start of rounds a voice line may appear such as 'I remember this place' giving a small, emotional insight to the characters past. The ethical setting of Overwatch is quite tame as the point is to take out and kill enemies however there are no blood effects and no gore whatsoever. The game has been given a T (for teen) rating, which shows it isn't suitable for children but is suitable for people of age 12+.

In my opinion, I believe that overall the setting of Hotline Miami is a much better setting than   Overwatch. All of Hotline Miamis's settings are strong and add good emotion and depth to the game, however Overwatch lacks emotional and strong ethical settings (Which appeal to me). And so in my opinion the overall settings of Hotline Miami are much better than Overwatch as they present a harsh and tense gaming world to play and get immersed in, unlike Overwatch which is quite tame and not too emotional. However if you prefer a game without any blood or less violence, the tameness of Overwatch will be much more appealing than the brutality of Hotline Miami.

• Goals, Challenges and Rewards - Within Hotline Miami the goal is simply to take out all enemies on the level. The challenge increases each time as levels progress and so gets harder and harder overtime. There are also smaller challenges within the game such as completing the level within a short time frame and by getting as many combos (by chaining kills) as possible so that you can achieve a high score. The reward for completing a high score unlocks you new weapons which appear on levels and new masks which give you different powers. With Overwatch, the goal is to either capture an objective, push a payload or to hold a point for a certain duration of time. The challenge within the game is that you need to get past the enemies who are defending those payloads, points or objectives. And so must take them out to be able to get to them. However, in Overwatch certain heroes are best at countering enemies and capturing points, so you need to decide which will be best for each situation. The reward for capturing and winning is that you are awarded XP and are able to level up. In the competitive game mode the idea is the same, however you are awarded XP and competitive points. The more competitive points you get, the higher rank you are within the game. The idea of competitive play is to see how good a player you are and separate people into different categories: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master and Grandmaster. The further you move up the levels the better the players are, making the game more challenging. The reward for doing this is improving your rank and knowing how good you are at the game. Both these methods of goal, challenge and reward are good however personally I prefer a set challenge (AI in Hotline Miami) instead of other players whose challenge differs depending on their rank. I like to be set a difficulty and play at that level instead of being mixed with different players of different rank (which is what happens in the default game mode of Overwatch). I also prefer the rewards system and goals in Hotline Miami which rewards you with unlockable items to use within the game, rather than XP which goes to your rank which just shows how long you have been playing for. The goals in Hotline Miami also is much better in my opinion than having a set destination to get to and attack. I prefer to just focus on taking out enemies and bad guys over having to capture objectives. Guns blazing is the best way to play in my opinion, so the goals, challenges and rewards within Hotline Miami beats those within Overwatch in my opinion. However if you do like to grind out games and get rewards for doing so, then Overwatch is the way forward. 

 

•  Player actions - Both Overwatch and Hotline Miami can use either a keyboard and mouse or a controller to play. This is because both games are accessible on PC and console so either method can be used to play them. However the movement style for Hotline Miami differs from Overwatch. With Hotline Miami you can only move up, down, left and right but can aim in a 360 degree area. Even if you stand still you can rotate 360 to shoot. But in Overwatch you can move in a 360 degree area but can only shoot from where you are looking and only see from your characters perspective, such as when you aim in with the sniper character Widowmaker you see what she sees. So in Hotline Miami you can shoot behind you by moving your mouse around instead of your whole characters body. But in Overwatch, if you are looking behind you, you have to turn your character around and then shoot. I much prefer the style of Overwatch's shooting and movement mechanics as it is much more immersive and realistic than Hotline Miami's. However if you like quickly moving around and killing someone as soon as you see them then Hotline Miami is best. 

  

• Rules - In Hotline Miami there are basically no rules set in place as it is a single player game. And so if you do decide to cheat or exploit glitches in the game, it is only effecting your experience and not anyone else's. However in Overwatch you are not allowed to cheat or hack in any instances or else you will be banned for life. Cheating in Overwatch it taken really seriously as it is a multiplayer game, and even if it is fun for you, it gives others who play the game a strong disadvantage and often ruins their experience within the game. I believe that both of these rules are correct for both video games, as by having no rules and allow cheating for single player games it means the player can play how they want and get help for the game if they need it via hacks. And Overwatch's system is also fair as hacking and cheating ruins others experiences, and if they are going to do that then they need to be banned from the game to prevent any players fun being stomped on. So I completely agree with both rules for both games.

• Difficulty - Unlike many single player games, Hotline Miami has a set difficulty which you cannot change. I believe this to be the best way to set difficulty in a video game as it gives the player a clear idea of what the game is meant to be like. It also gives the player a challenge, which is what should really be in all video games, and doesn't allow the player to have an easy walk in the park or have it crushing. It allows for the game to be played just how the developers intended. However with Overwatch there is no real set difficulty due to it being a multiplayer only game, so the difficulty will depend on what type of players you are playing against and how skilled they are. Obviously this is the only way difficulty can really be set in multiplayer games (unless placed against AI) as the computer/console and developers have no control over how good other people are at the game. However some people may see cheating within video games no matter if it is single player of multiplayer as bad as it is always will ruin the experience of the game as its being played how its not meant to be played. 

• Game Mechanics - There are three different types of game mechanics within video games; Inventory, scoring and win condition. Inventory is what the player can store and freely carry along with them in game, scoring which is the point system and shows how much you have gained through out the level and win condition which determines how far you have progressed and within multiplayer/vs games will display which team/character has won. Hotline Miami has these mechanics but they are quite simple. Jacket is only able to carry one weapon at a time and so has a simple inventory system, the only display of scoring you get is up in the top right which shows how many points you have gained within the chapter and the win condition is shown from small pieces of dialogue and finish screens (displaying your score and saying chapter complete) when you complete a chapter. However with Overwatch the mechanics for scoring and win condition are much more advanced/detailed. The inventory system is quite simple, each character can only hold their own weapons and are set with them only. They cannot pick up anything on the map as the game contains no pickups/weapons - so is quite basic. However the scoring within the game is extremely detailed, it shows you your: Eliminations (kills), objective kills, objective time, damage done, healing done, deaths, weapon accuracy, best kill streak, damage blocked and ultimate kills. And on top of that, you gain XP when completing matches and gives you a rank when you play competitive. This scoring system is extremely detailed and gives you every bit of information about your performance which allows you to reflect on what you are good at doing and what you are bad at (such as good weapon accuracy but cannot get many kills with your ultimate ability). The win condition in Overwatch varies from map  to map. On a payload, it will have a set of checkpoints you have pushed the payload to and display how many meters after a point you pushed it (i.e. 2 points and 34.25 meters). Whoever pushes the payload the furthest wins. On control point it will show you a percentage of how much of the point you have captured and once you have captured the point all the way it will award you a point. Whoever gets 3 points first wins. And with objective maps, it will display simply how many points you have captured. The person with the most points captured by the end of the game wins. When you win or loose a screen will flash up either saying 'victory', 'defeat' or 'draw'. And so this is much more detailed than Hotline Miami's due to the various win conditions set from each map. In my opinion, I much prefer simple game mechanics compared to advanced game mechanics. I believe this because it means I dont have to be constantly checking my inventory and items i have/collected to see what to use in certain situations. Such as in Hotline Miami I know that I only have the weapon in my hand and so have to use that to take on enemies. With scoring it means you dont need to focus on all of your varying scores and points such as within Overwatch, and can just see one big score which is much more simple (and in my eyes looks nicer than a cluster of varying scores) to see progress. I can understand that people enjoy a much larger scoring system due to them being able to see every little detail of how they have played so can analyse themselves and improve their performance. And with the win condition, by making it simple and straight forward you clearly know what you have to do every time. I also understand how people can enjoy a detailed win condition/multiple win conditions as it mixes things up and forces the player to do things differently each time which adds a challenge.

  

• Balance - Balance in video games is basically asking the question of is this game fair? And it differs within single player and multiplayer games. Some single player games have been said to be unbalanced due to their difficulty being set too hard (such as the dark souls franchise) and some characters/weapons within multiplayer games (such as CS:GO's AWP) which has been said to be overpowered due to it being a one hit kill. In my opinion I believe Hotline Miami and Overwatch to be both extremely balanced games. I believe this for Hotline Miami as it has set difficulty which i see to be balanced. Even though it is challenging at first, it forces you to adapt to the games mechanics and controls to beat and win the game and overtime you easily get to grips with the controls and how the enemies work within the game. I often find you also find a character who suits your play style (for me its Dennis (a wolf mask which gives you a knife). The enemies within the game have set patterns and movements which you can learn which will then allow you to storm through the chapters of the game, making a solidly balanced game. And with Overwatch it is constantly updated to make sure all heroes within the game is balanced, which I believe to be essential for a multiplayer game. Overwatch is constantly being updated with buffs and nerfs (improvements and downgrades) for characters so that nobody is made overpowered or extremely weak. This leaves the game constantly balanced and makes it so people dont have to instantly lock in heroes to win games as without those heroes the team is weakened. And so I believe both games are extremely balanced.

• Feedback - There are two types of feedback used in video games: positive feedback and negative feedback. Positive feedback is a reward and is given to the player when they do something good, such as when you defeat a boss and you get a rare item from killing it. Negative feedback is used when something bad is done such as dying and then you will loose an item. It is designed to force the player to get less negative feedback and more positive feedback (through reward and punishment). It is used in basically all video games and can be seen within both Hotline Miami and Overwatch. In Hotline Miami the positive feedback is when you complete a level and get lots of points for doing well and getting lots of kills, you will be awarded new weapons, a grade on each chapter and new masks. The negative feedback in Hotline Miami is when you die you have to reset the level from the beginning of a chapter/checkpoint and lose the weapon you where currently holding. And so if you have a really good weapon, you will want to not die. In Overwatch the Positive feedback is your statistics in the game as you are awarded medals depending on how well you are doing. Gold is if you are doing the best in your team on a specific thing, i.e. kills. Silvers second best and bronzes last. If you are doing amazing and get the most kills, objective kills, damage and objective time you will be awarded with 4 gold medals which give you more XP and a playercard which is displayed to all players at the end of the game. There is also a mechanic in the game called 'Play of the game' which is awarded to the player who gets the most kills within a short time period of about 10 seconds. By doing this, both teams at the end of the game will see the play of the game. You are also set your 'career bests' which counts the best stats for each hero and so allows you to set goals to beat what you have previously done i.e. beat your most kills. The negative feedback within Overwatch is just the opposite of the positive in which you will be awarded no medals if you are one of the worse players on the team and haven't done much. By doing this it shows you how you are competing with others on the team and will make you want to get the gold medals (and play of the game) to get more XP and climb in rank. I believe positive and negative feedback is a must have within all video games as it gives the players an incentive to play well and gain rewards from it so they can further improve. Without being punished for their mistakes, players would never improve within the game as if they dont get punished for it they can just keep on doing it (as there is nothing too loose). I also believe that both Overwatch and Hotline Miami have included very good and fair feedback within their games to help players improve. Some games have harsh negative feedback's and very generous positive feedback's which can often slip the difficulty of the game into unfair territory. This could be done through forcing the player to restart all the way from the begin of the map if they die and so loose a ton of progress when playing, or when you complete a challenge you are overly rewarded such as with an extremely powerful item. However I believe Hotline Miami and Overwatch have a perfect balance of good positive feedback and good negative feedback to not tilt the games difficulty/put you off the game.

 

• Game structure -  The games structure (flowchart) is used to show the design of the game and how it works. I have created two flowcharts for Hotline Miami and Overwatch and have attached them as a pdf onto the VLE. And as shown in the flowcharts, Hotline Miami has a much more simple game structure than Overwatch. In my opinion, I much prefer having a simple game structure rather than a more advanced one as it makes the game much more simpler and easier to use. Some people could argue that having a much more advanced game structure will have more interaction between the user and the game as it allows for more options to be made to suit the players commands (such as more options within the actual options settings to change resolution, FOV (field of view) and frame rate so that the game can be optimized to the PC's performance capability for PC gamers. But in my opinion, it just makes the game more simple to have a basic structure. 

 

Gameplay

Resident Evil 4:

Resident Evil is a single player game with a strong narrative in which you are playing as Leon S. Kennedy (a government special agent who has been sent to save the U.S Presidents daughter). You play in a third person perspective. Within this world you have the goal to fight through hordes of zombies to get the Presidents daughter. The environment is set as dark and eerie to create a tense atmosphere for the player. Through out the game challenges can be seen within the bosses of the game and the rewards in resident evil are huge. There are all sorts of unlockables and hidden Easter eggs the player can find, such as hidden cutscenes, a bottle cap collection set and achievements.

In

Residents evil difficulty has said to be one of the most balanced difficulties out there. Some of the mechanics of resident evil are:
- Laser sight aim
- Quick time events
- Over the shoulder camera
- Inventory system
- Achievements

The game is also said to be very balanced due to its overall difficulty and the controls of the game, which is over the shoulder using a laser sight.

Super Mario Bros:

The meaning of the game world - Dishonoured:

Dishonoured is set in the city of Dunwall, An industrial city which is used for whaling. The world of Dunwall revolves around whale oil for power instead of electricity, and is set in a dark, eerie atmosphere. Depending on your actions within  the game, the world will change around you. If you decide to go with a more chaotic character, civilians within the game will begin to get the plague and turn to deranged enemies whilst the number of rats within the city increases. But if you play a more sneaky and peaceful approach the world will gain more civilians and less rats will be seen.



Characters

Playing character - Within Dishonoured the playing character is Corvo, in which you play as them. When playing as Corvo you see through his eyes and control his actions through out dishonored. Corvo is a male human who has been given powers from an NPC named the outsider. And with these powers, you are able to perform different, powerful actions.


The outside is an NPC who you can interact with within cutscenes of the game. He is controlled by the game and has as set of instructions to perform when interacted with. The outsider is a mysterious supernatural being said to be part devil part angel and neither good or bad.



Interfaces - UI and GUI:

UI means user interface and GUI means graphical user interface. GUI is a subset of UI. UI’s can include non-graphical interfaces such as screen readers or command line interfaces which aren’t considered GUI’s. So GUI’s can only be graphical.

Perspectives:

• 2D - 2D stands for two dimensions, and a 2D object is seen to be flat, such as this image from the 2D game super Mario bros.
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• 3D - 3D stands for three dimension, and a 3D object is seen to have curves and edges and 'pops out'. 3D is much more realistic than 2D and an example is from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. (The Game Doom was also the first game to have 3D graphics)
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• First Person - First Person games are games which puts you in the perspective of the character, so see everything from his/her eyes. An example of this is in the game dishonored
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• Third Person - Third Person games are games which puts you in a perspective which is viewing the character such as the game Assassins Creed
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• Scrolling - Scrolling is movement from side to side and can typically be seen in side scrollers such as the game Shovel Knight, in which the objective is to reach the end goal at the very right of the map.
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• Aerial - Aerial is the movement of up and down and is typically seen in games such as Donkey Kong in which the objective is to get to the top of the map 
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• Context-Sensitive - Context sensitive is a type of user interface which makes it so that one thing can have multiple actions. Some games call this an 'action button' in which on a PlayStation controller the square button could be used to both interact with doors and interact to hit enemies. An example of this is in the game The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time in which the left arrow button can both be used for cycling weapon and can be used for interacting and talking to NPC's in the game. 
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Full Motion Video: 

Full Motion Video is a video game narration technique which relies on pre-recorded files to display action in the game, Many games use FMV in cutscenes to present information, and some games which use FMV are said to be interactive movies. An example of an interactive movie game is The Wolf Among Us which tells a story and makes you make all the key decision to let the game play out in different ways depending on your decision.
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