Charlie Roberts
IMG Year 2 Portfolio

Analysing key features of three existing games of the open world genre.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
2. Spider-Man (PS4)
3. Warframe

1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild













Gameplay - The gameplay involves the player travelling around the world completing (side and main story) quests. The game can be quite slow if the player walks / runs everywhere, but this can also be sped up if the player decided to use the teleport feature to teleport to shrines / towers that they've previously activated / completed. Additional due to the game being open world, the player can do what they want when they want, and can even attempt to fight the boss after a short amount of time (and skip the other events / story quests).
  
Mechanics - There are many mechanics that are apart of the game. However there are some that play a larger role in the game than others. Around the map there are a number of towers that the player is required to climb and activate. These towers unlock / make an area of the map visible, but also allows the player to teleport to them (which is another mechanic). This allows the player to travel (long) distances, which means they can complete objectives faster. Also, another important mechanic is the objective marker system. This is rather important as some quests require the player to go to certain areas, meaning if the player doesn't know where the area is, they can still find it quickly.













Another main important mechanic would be the combat mechanic. When using a weapon such as a sword, if the player dodges at the right time they can perform a 'flurry rush', which allows the play to deal a large amount of damage in a short amount of time. There are also shields that the player can use during combat. If the player holds 'R' they'll hold up their shield. By doing this the player will block attacks coming from the direction that they're facing. However if the player presses 'A' as an enemy attacks, they'll parry the attack, which allows the player to hit the enemy a number of time as they're unguarded.













One of the most important mechanics in the game would be the 'Sheikah slate'. This is a key item that the player requires at the very beginning of the game. This allows the player to use a camera (required for some quests), to view the map, and also use runes.
The runes have a number of uses, such as puzzle solving and even combat (Stasis and bomb rune being useful for combat).












HUD - The HUD in this game contains and shows a variety of features, some being more important than others. These features are spread around the screen, which is rather effective since this has allowed them to be separated / grouped. 
In the top right corner of the screen, the players health is shown (in the form of hearts). Under that the player can see what Sheikah slate power (in game item) they have active, as well as what champion spirit powers are active. Then in the centre of the screen the players stamina bar (if being used) can be seen. Then finally, in the bottom right of the HUD there are features such as a map, temperature reading, in-game time, and even weather readings.  












Perspective - The game is played in 3rd person. The camera follows the player around and can be freely rotated, or locked onto enemies that are close to the player to allow easier combat (as the camera locks, meaning the player can focus on the combat mechanics of the game / fighting enemies) 
Level Design / Layout

Story - The general outline of the games story is that 100 years ago (when the game starts) there was Ganon reappeared, and took control of Hyrules Guardians and Divine Beasts. During this attack, Link as heavily wounded and taken to the 'Shrine of Resurrection' to heal, and Zelda uses magic to temporarily seal Ganon.
When Link (controlled by the character) awakens, 100 years later, he is suffering from amnesia. After learning of what has happened, and what needs to be done from characters such as the previous kings ghost, and Impa, Link is tasked with reclaiming the Divine Beasts, and defeating Ganon.
However the Divine beasts don't need to be saved before fighting Ganon, as the player has the items to reach the final boss area. However the final boss becomes much easier if the story is played, and the Divine beasts are saved.
 
Characters - There are a large number of characters within the game. Many of the characters play a minor role, such as village people and travellers, but there are also others the player will interact with more such as shop keepers. There are also characters that have different roles. Some are important to the story / main story quests, where as others can be totally avoided, as they are only important for side quests. (Important main story characters: Zelda, Ganon, Impa, the four champions).












Challenges - There are numerous challenges within the game. There are a number of enemies that the player will encounter while playing through the game. Most of these enemies are the basic tier of enemies, but there will also be mini bosses and actual dungeon bosses that the player will encounters. Some of these, such as the basic enemies, mini bosses, and even some of the main bosses (if the story is skipped) can be avoided. Other than that, the main challenge to the game is completing the shrines to obtain spirit orbs. Some of these shrines have an enemy Guardian, or just reward the player (if there was a quest to gain access to the shrine), but the majority of these are puzzles that the player must solve.












Collectables - The main collectables of the game would be the 900 Korok seeds that are hidden around the world. These are used to upgrade the inventory spaces of the player. However, for some the armour sets and weapons in the game are considered collectables, as some can be purchased from stores, or obtained as a reward for completing shrines.













Health / Life System - The health system of the game is shown via a hearts bar. The players health can be permanently increased by exchanging spirit orbs to 'Goddess Statues' that are located around the map. When the player loses health, it can be regenerated by consuming food / potions. Different foods restore a different amount of health, however, most cooked meals, with mixed ingredients will increase more health.     

Checkpoints / Game over screens - At any point in time the player can manually save their game. Additionally, each save is considered as a different save file, meaning the player could go back to a previous save file and play from there. The game also has an auto save that occurs every few minutes. 
If the player dies in any way, they are shown a 'Game Over' screen. If they press the continue button, the game will reload the most recent save file.. 


2. Spider-Man (PS4)












Gameplay - Most of the time that you're playing this game you'll find yourself swinging from location to location. Eventually there is a fast travel (teleport) system that the player can use to get across the map. However, in this game, a large part of the enjoyment is from swinging around the city of New York, meaning that you'll most likely find yourself swinging to the next mission, or even just swinging around the map as you get distracted from the main story.











Mechanics - The main mechanic of the game would be the web swinging. I believe this as without it, the game wouldn't truly be a Spider-Man game, as web swinging is one of the heroes most distinguishable features. 
There's also the map and tower mechanic that is used similarly to other open world games (such as Zelda: Breath of the Wild). In this game, Spider-Man is asked to fix the police towers located around the city. When the player interacts with the tower, they have to move the analogue sticks to change the wavelength, and make it match the correct wavelength. When this is completed, a section of the map will be uncovered, and activities of crime, landmarks, backpacks, stakeouts, and bases will be visible on the map (these can be found without the map, but are easier to find with the map). Additionally, throughout the story there are a number of quick time events that the player must pass to continue with the story.
Another mechanic is apparent when fighting. This is another mechanic that rewards the player when performing a perfect dodge. In this game it is shown via a 'spider sense', which glows when you're about to be attacked. Performing a perfect dodge can have different outcomes depending on the players progress, such as webbing the enemy whom you dodged, or being able to attack them with an instant take down. 
































HUD - The games map is shown on bottom right corner of the screen (/ of the HUD), which is useful as it allows the player to see the area around them (map can be expanded to see a larger area). Also on the HUD, the players health bar is shown. During combat there are other features shown, such as a combo counter and a 'Focus' bar, and even suit power bar. Not only that, but certain controls also appear on the screen (Not only during the intro) when the player can interact with something (e.g. press triangle to enter a building, or pres 'L1+R1' to throw a cinder block at an enemy).











Perspective - The game is played in third person almost always, and follows primarily follows the protagonist, 'Peter Parker'. However sometimes other characters perspectives, such as 'Mary Jane' or 'Miles Morales'.

Level Design /Layout - As the game is an open world game, it is, for the most part, one big level. However there are certain buildings / areas that are only unlocked / accessible during certain parts of the story-line. The world is based on the city of New York, but has also taken elements from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and also features from the comics / other marvel related media.
A prime example of this would be on of the largest buildings within the game, being the 'Avengers' tower. Becasue of this, the world is still different to those who know the area that the game is based off of. 

Story (spoilers) - Different main story quests / missions require the player to travel around the world. Since the games world is reasonably large the player is allowed to enjoy the main mechanic, being web swinging (as some quests / missions might require the player to travel quite far). Between main story quests the player can carry out the various side quests that are located around the map, which allows the player to upgrade their suit upgrades (which are effectively player buffs), or even obtain new suits and their unique skills. During the story, there are numerous times when the player is required to do these missions before giving the next part of the story. However, the story itself effectively shows the clash between Peter Parker and Spider-Man. By this I mean the struggles of being a superhero, but still needing to earn a living with a normal job, as well as choosing between right and wrong (such as the ending of the game where Peter has to let Aunt May die, so more doses of the anti-serum for can be manufactured and provided to the city).

Characters - There are a number of characters within the game. Excluding the NPCs who only exist for the side quests, there are no new characters. By this I mean that all the characters (main) have appeared in some sort of Spider-Man media before (whether that's the comics or MCU)
The main character, controlled by the player, is 'Peter Parker' (Spider-Man). However as previously mention, the player sometimes get to play as 'Mary Jane' or 'Miles Morales', which allows the story to unfold from the perspective of other vital characters.











Challenges - The main challenges of the game would be the fights / boss fights. As most of the time the bosses hit rather hard, meaning if the player isn't careful, they'll end up failing a number of times. However, there are also a number of other challenges in the game, some of which link with collectables.
Whenever the player finds an active crime scene, the player is shown two challenges, that if completed, will reward the player with extra tokens (these tokens will be explained under the collectables section). However, these don't need to be completed, but they're just there for the extra challenge. Then there are also challenges set up by a character called the 'Taskmaster'. These come in a variety of forms, but mostly consist of the player having to find and disarm bombs, following a spy drone, or even fighting mercenaries.
Additionally there are also less intense challenges located in the lab of 'Dr. Octavius'. These challenges consist of a more mental challenge, and consist of the player completing circuits and matching filters to find out different components are.

Collectables -
Around the world there are 55 backpacks that are webbed to a surface. Each one of these contain a different item that has some sort of history with 'Peter Parker' (or Spider-Man). However once all 55 are collected, the player is rewarded with a special suit.
However, to unlock a suit normally, the player is required to exchange a number of tokens. These tokens, being backpack, challenge, base, research, and crime tokens. These are all obtained from their own unique challenges. For some players, these would all want to be collected, as it allows the player to unlock every suit with in the game. Personally, the suits are one of the most enjoyable and worthy collectables of the game, as they not only change the visuals of the player in the overworld, and provide the player with a new unique skill, but they also appear in the cut scenes, which for me made the game much more enjoyable.

























Health / Life System - The player has a health bar shown on the HUD. The players health will regenerate once a battle has ended. However health can also be regenerate during a battle if the player presses down on the d-pad and has enough 'focus' (gained by fighting enemies and not using finishers, as they use focus). 

Checkpoints / Game over screens - The game has an autosave feature that occurs while playing the game. However the game can also be manually saved by the player. When the player dies, they will restart at the latest auto save. However there isn't really a game over screen, as when the player dies, the loading screen is shown as the latest save is loaded.

3. Warframe











Gameplay - Warframe is more of a dungeon crawler game than an open world game (for the most part), as most of the levels are based in a generated level. There are different missions that are required to be carried out for the various different dungeon crawler levels, being:
Assassination, Capture, Deception, Defense, Exterminate, Interception, Invasion, Mobile Defense, Raid, Rescue, Sabotage, Spy, Survival, and Void missions.

There are a number of different worlds with many of these different missions located on them. The player is required to travel from planet to planet to proceed with the story quests, as well as side quests. As the story proceeds, and the player progresses planets, the enemies become stronger and harder to defeat. As the player plays through the levels of each world, they'll be able to obtain different materials, as well as items such as blueprints (explained further in collectables section) which allows the player to create different weapons and warframes (each warframe has different abilities which allows the game to be played differently).

However, there is quite a large open world section to the game, located on one of the planets within the game, being 'Earth'. This location is called the "Plains of Eidolon". This area allows the player to carry out a range of activities, varying in difficulties (most of which, being different to what the player would carry out in the other missions).

In this open world section, the player can do things such as:
Fly around the world freely on an arch wing (once created) which can be used to get to certain areas, but is still rather fun just to fly around on aimlessly, gain materials / resources, or standing (a game mechanic) from activities such as hunting and spear fishing, and then gain minerals by exploring caves and mining. However the main activity in this location is fighting Eidolons, which is a rather difficult task, even for experienced players. This is also where the MMO aspect of the game comes in, as this task is extremely difficult to complete when playing solo, just like some of the later normal missions. 

Mechanics - Each different warframe has different abilities which make them unique and more suited for different missions.
Another mechanic is that each time a mission is loaded, the level layout will change, as different layouts are generated each time (Not for the open world section of the game though).

HUD - There are a number of different features that are located on the HUD. The main feature, that's on most games, would be player (and all party members) health, which is shown in the top right corner. In this game it is shown via a red health bar, with a blue and a purple bar showing shields and overshields. In the top left corner, there are two features present. One being a map of the level, and the other, under he map, being the primary objective of the mission. The bottom right of the screen also shows two features, both being combat focused. One shows the player the name of the weapon they are currently using, as well as the amount of ammo is currently loaded in their gun, and how much they have available in total. Then under this, the players warframe abilities are shown, as well as the amount of energy that the player has available to use. In the bottom center of the screen, the levels secondary objective (or the players personal objective) is shown. Then in the center of the screen, the players aiming reticle is shown. Then there's also a marker which shows the player where they're meant to be going, but this moves around the screen was the player moves.   












Perspective - The game is played in third person. However, there are some cut scenes that are shown from the first perspective. 

Level Design / Layout - "There are currently around 22 unique tilesets, each with their own theme and appearance." (Warframe Fandom)
Using these tilesets, levels are uniquely generated each time a level is played / loaded. However, this is only for the missions where there is a strict level / objective.
In the open world section of the game, the world is "an area of about 5 square kilometers (2.25km x 2.25km)" (Warframe Fandom). This world contains a variety of features, such as caves, rives, ponds, oceans, and enemy camps. This world can be freely travelled around, and the player can do any activity that they please.

Story - As the player carries out levels, they will unlock various planets on the star chart. At the same time, the story progresses as the player unlocks new worlds (more missions become available to them). However, in some cases the story / missions don't need to be carried out, and the game can still be played. But in most cases it is best to carry out the missions as they will often reward the player (e.g. weapon / blueprints). However, the story is actually rather interesting, as it explains the past of this world, and goes into who and what the player actually is.
 
Characters - It could be argued that there are a number of different characters, becuase there are around 57 warframes. However, these warframes are controlled by the player, who also has another form, being their operator form (who is the one controlling the warframe). There are also additional characters who are often interacted with, such as 'Ordis' and 'Lotus', who often guide the player through the game. However, this isn't to say the are the only characters, as there are a number of named npcs and bosses that are encountered throughout the game.
















 
Challenges - Most of the challenges of the game are the levels the player must pass. As previously explained, there are a number of different missions within the game. However, to get to another planet (progress to another planet for the first time), the player must have passed the criteria to fight a boss at a junction. (continue)

Collectables - There are various different objects that could be counted as collectables. Most of these are the materials that are needed to craft other items,such as weapons (primary / secondary)  weapons)  There 36 different warframes that the player can craft / 22

Health / Life System - The players health is shown via a bar on the top right section of the screen. This also shows any shield buffs that the player currently has (if they have any) and it also shows the groups health points too.
However, the whole bar doesn't indicate the players health, as most of the players health is in fact a shield that regenerates over time, were as a smaller section is health that can only be regained by finding health orbs (enemy drop).

Checkpoints / Game over screens - When the player dies during a level they can instantly revive themselves by paying affinity (which is gained by playing the level). However it will get to a point where the mission is failed, and the player will have to begin again from the start (after being sent back to the ship). 

What do I think the key codes and conventions are for the Open World genre?
Before looking further into research, I would guess that the one of the main codes / conventions would be an almost fully accessible world, meaning if you can see something, you can probably go to it / explore it. However most of the time you'll be able to get to a building, but you won't be able to get there.

I would also guess that an open world game would include some sort quest / mission system (main / side missions) so even when the main story doesn't require the player to go to a certain area of the map, another quest will.

Many open world games make use of some sort of map and way point mechanic, as without them travelling to specific locations, (e.g. quest locations) can become a difficult task.

Important features to include in this project
I feel as one of the most important features to include in my own world would be the accessibility of the world. As we plan to create a forest, this is easily doable. A lot of open world games also need some sort of border to signify the edges of the world. Many games do this via areas which kill the player, where as others use buildings, or the world itself to block the player from exiting. For our project, plan to make use of a more natural border, such as mountains as we're creating a forest, and we feel as though a mountain / steep slope would be the most logical option to suit the atmosphere that we're aiming for. However, we're only creating a section of the world (as creating a whole open world would take too much time) meaning the section we're creating may not be at the edge of the world.

How will I ensure these features are in-keeping with the theme of my project?
Some of the features of an open world game won;t be able to be shown in my project, as we're only creating a portion of a world / level, and not a whole game, and world to go with it.
However, the fully accessible feature could be implemented to a certain extent, by allowing the player to move freely around the section of world we create.