Game Analysis: CyberPunk 2077

Summary

  • I choose CyberPunk 2077 a Sci-fi Rpg, where you play as a mercenary for hire ‘V’ in Night City. I choose this game because it just came out on December tenth, and I thought it would be a good choice.

Game Play Analysis

Formal Elements
The Basics
Name of the gameCyberPunk 2077
The platformIt’s on Playstation, PC, and Xbox, but I played on Xbox
Time played (should be at least 30 minutes)Roughly four to five hours
If you could work on this game (change it), what would you change and why?Only thing that felt off to me and I would want to change would be the guns and shooting, compared to other great shooters it feels kind of slow and “bulky” if I had to put into a word, which isn’t a bad thing but it’s just not something I am used to and I would prefer to play a shooter type game with similar feelings to others, but again it’s not a bad thing it helps it stand out as of right now. But all in all I would rather try to fix all of the bugs and glitches that the game has on console right now to make it more user friendly.
PlayersNOTES
How many players are supported?It is a single player game.
Does it need to be an exact number?Yes
How does this affect play?It makes it a more story driven game than for it’s actual game play, of course the gameplay has to be good to get players to play through with them, but it is more focused on telling the story of ‘V’ then having outstanding gameplay which is what you would be looking for in multiplayer games.
Some types of player frameworks:Single Player – like Solitare.Head-to-head – 1 vs. 1, Chess.PvE – Player vs. Environment, or multiple players vs. the game. Common in MMOs like World of Warcraft.One against Many – Single-player vs. multiple (obvy).Free-for-all – Every man for himself (1 vs. 1 vs. 1 vs. 1..). Most common for multiplayer games, from Monopoly to Modern Warfare.Individuals Against the System – Like Blackjack, where the Dealer is playing against multiple players, but those players have no effect on each other.Team Competition – Multiple vs. multiple, i.e. sports.Predator-prey – Players form a circle and everyone’s goal is to attack the player on their left and defend themselves from the player on their right.Five-pointed Star – Eliminate both players who are not on either side of you.
Objectives/GoalsNOTES
What are the players trying to do?The player is trying to live as a mercenary in Night City when they get one of the biggest gigs ever, and that is to steal a prototype microchip that has the potential to give immortality.
Some common objectives include:Capture/Destroy – Eliminate all your opponents pieces (Chess).Territorial Acquisition – Control as much territory as you can, not necessarily harming other players (RISK).Collection – Collect a certain number of objects throughout the game (Pokemon).Solve – Solve a puzzle or crime (Clue).Chase/race/escape – Anything where you are running towards or away from something (playground game Tag).Spatial Alignment – Anything involving the positioning of elements (Tetris or Tic-Tac-Toe or that game at Cracker Barrel).Build – Advance your characters or build your resources to a certain point (The Sims).Negation of another goal – The game ends if you perform an act that is forbidden by the rules (Jenga or Twister).
Rules/MechanicsFor the most part it’s fairly standard like most rpg’s, they have character creation where you customize your character and determine what your starting stats are going to be. Then you choose a lifestyle that you want to have lived between; Nomad, Street Kid, and Corpo. Each one gives different starting prologues and slightly different dialogues throughout the game. During the game you take on certain ‘missions’ and complete them for rewards, you can also do ‘side missions’ to get extra rewards. As you play the game and progress you also level up and get stat points and skill points that are used to raise up your five basic stats up to a max of twenty and to gain and increase skills found under those stats. As I haven’t completed the game I can’t give details on how it all wraps together so I’ll just use my experience of going through and finishing missions, so far if you die, you restart a little ways back and have to play through that area or the entire mission again, if you complete it you get your rewards and most of the time another mission afterwards to keep the story going so it doesn’t get stagnate. And as I forgot to try and purposely fail a mission I can’t give specifics if it is possible and if it is what happens.
There are three categories of (what the book Rules of Play calls) operational rules:Setup – the things you do at the beginning of a game.Progression of Play – what happens during the game.Resolution – How an outcome is determined based on the game state.
ControlsNOTES
What controls are used?There are controls for moving, sprinting, crouching, sliding, looking around, readying and holstering your weapon, switch weapons, block with a melee weapon or aim with ranged weapon, also attack with a melee weapon or a ranged weapon, also jumping, using consumables, throwables, your phone, your inventory and character screen, the pause screen, reloading your ranged weapons, also activating and using your cyber-ware.
Was there a clear introductory tutorial?Yes, though it was a little bit into the game before you got the introductory tutorial and it also gave you the option to skip it.
Were they easy to understand or did you find yourself spamming the controller?I was easy to understand but putting some of them to practice took, well practice as the controls and aspects of the cyber-ware were unique and different.
Resources & Resource ManagementNOTES
What kinds of resources do players control?Equipment; weapons, armor, clothing, materials, consumables, throwables, and cyber-ware. Money, skill points, stat points, health, stamina, ammo, game time, information.
How are they maintained during play?You can only ever have three weapons equipped at one time the rest are left in your inventory or your stash, same with armor except there is only one slot for each type of armor piece. When you get hit by a weapon it deals a predetermined amount of damage to you, and your health has a determined amount of health to lose when you get hit, and this can be restored over time, or with a healing item. Stamina is used when you sprint or use melee attacks, and regenerates over time. Ammo is used every time you shoot and you can pick up more by running around and finding it or you can make your own with the materials you have in your inventory which is also used to craft and upgrade equipment. Money is earned after completing objectives and by picking it up from around the world.
What is their role?There role is to balance the game and make it fun yet challenging for those that want it, to keep people from just using one thing infinitely without having to worry about it.
A resource is everything under the control of a single player. Could be the money in Monopoly or health in WoW. Other examples are:Territory in RISK The number of questions remaining in 20 Questions Objects picked up during videogames (guns, health packs, etc.)Time (game time, real-time, or both)Known information (like suspects in Clue)
Game StateNOTES
How much information in the game state is visible to the player?For the most part the player only has limited information about themselves. Example, in a gun fight, you only have the environment, the enemies, your health, your stamina, your quickbar items, your current weapon and it’s ammo if it’s a ranged weapon. But you also have the ability to scan objects and gain information on them, which when you do that you only have the information on what you are scanning and nothing more besides environment.
A snapshot of the game at a single point is the game state. The resources you have, the un-owned properties in Monopoly, your opponent’s Archery skill all count towards the game state. Some example information structures are:Total Information – Nothing is hidden, like Chess.Info per player – Your hand of cards is only visible to you.One player has privileged info – Like a Dungeon Master.The game hides info from all players – Like Clue, where no one knows the victory condition.Fog of War – In video games, where certain sections of the map are concealed if you do not have a unit in sight range of that area. You also cannot see other players’ screens, so each player is unaware of the other’s information.
SequencingNOTES
In what order do players take their actions?For the most part it is whatever input the player decides to do. Say you just load up the game after a previous four hour session, some things you could do is, move around, look around, jump, pull out your weapon, open your inventory and character screen, pop a consumable, or use a throwable and so much more.
How does play flow from one action to another?Pretty smooth going from aiming to shooting, or shooting to pulling out a sword and slicing some one happens smoothly without many bumps, but there are some actions that cause a cooldown before something else can happen but it isn’t normal for to long maybe a few seconds at most.
Some structures include:Turn-based – Standard board game technique.Turn-based with simultaneous play – where everyone takes their turn at the same time (like writing something down or putting a card down in War).Real-time – Actions happen as fast as players can make them. Action-based video games.Turn-based and time limits – You have this long to take your turn.
Player InteractionThere is combat in the game as well as dialogue where you can choose between multiple responses as well as trading money for equipment or information.
Some examples:Direct Conflict – I attack you.Negotiation – If you support me here, I’ll help you there.Trading – I’ll give you this for that.Information Sharing – If you go there, I’m warning you, a trap will go off.
Theme & NarrativeNOTES
Does it have an actual story structure?Yes
Is it based on a historical event (or similar)?No
Does the theme or narrative help you know how to play?Kind of, as a avid gamer I got the gist of the theme and understood how to play my character, but for newcomers that might not be that easy.
Does it have emotional impacts?Yes
Also, look for en media res (does it start in the middle of the game)?No it does not
The Elements in MotionNOTES
How do the different elements interact?They interact pretty well besides the few bugs and glitches the game has
What is the gameplay like?Unique and average, nothing outstanding besides the use and interaction with cyber-ware
Is it effective?For the game and how it feels, yes I would say it is effective gameplay
Are there any points where the design choices break down?Not that I could find in my few hours of playing
Design CritiqueNOTES
Why did the designer make these particular choices?Probably to give a certain feel to the game and to have it portray things in a certain way.
Why this set of resources?To flow with the setting and and theme of the story
What if they made different decisions?It would be a completely different game
Does the design break down at any point?Not that I have found
Graphics & SoundNOTES
Does the game art pair well with the mechanics?In my opinion yes the graphics aren’t anything astonishing but they are really well done, and you can tell the time that was put into them
Did you find any bugs or glitches?Yes, mainly freezing, and crashing every now and again
What about sound?The soundtrack is beautiful and works really well with the setting of the game
Can you spot any technical shortcuts?No, I feel like I am still to inexperienced to notice many shortcuts
Various Stages of the GameNOTES
To wrap up, some things to keep in mind (as if there aren’t enough already) as you play:
What challenges do you face, and how do you overcome them?Groups of enemies, mainly just playing tactically deals with them. Know what skills to pick up and where to put stat points, my first playthrough of any game is to play through the easiest difficulty so that I can pay attention to the story and mechanics before I try harder difficulties
Is the game fair?I believe it is, things that are hard to do are hard to do but not impossible, and things that you do normally can still be messed up
Is it replayable? Are there multiple paths to victory or optional rules that can change the experience?Yes
What is the intended audience?Rpg shooter fans for the broad audience
What is the core, the one thing you do over and over, and is it fun?Missions, and yes it is fun they have a variety of missions so that you aren’t doing the same one over and over again

This analysis form was adapted from https://notlaura.com/a-template-for-analyzing-game-design/

Game Design – Week 14 – Intro to Analysis

“Analysis gave me great freedom of emotions and fantastic confidence. I felt I had served my time as a puppet.”

Hedy Lamarr

SUMMARY

  • I took this week to work with my family and find new ways to help increase my productivity in school, while also working on a things for school.

CLASSROOM (THEORY & ANALYSIS)

  • I have played CyberPunk 2077, Destiny 2, and a few simple idle phone games.

OUTSIDE (CREATIVITY, PRODUCTIVITY & THE BRAIN)

Image from bananatreelog.com
  • I know for myself I haven’t been paying to much attention to my self-care and mental health because I have been so focused on trying to graduate in this hectic year. I have, since the beginning, been getting better about it but it won’t go away no matter what I feel pressured to do well and to pass my classes to complete missing or late work. And this pressure isn’t always from other people, it’s also the ingrained reaction in my brain, that if I don’t do well in school and mess up in school I won’t be able to make it in the “real world”, but I am trying my best, to be strong, to not break, and to build myself back up if I do break. And I do have people to talk with but I always feel like I would be bothering them and getting in their way if I brought up all my worries and problems so I keep them to myself, it’s not that I don’t trust them, I do ask for help when I really need it, but I also feel that it’s best to try and work on stuff myself before I decide to rely on others.

ARCADE

  • I decided to play CyberPunk 2077 for this analysis.

WHAT I LEARNED and PROBLEMS I SOLVED

  • I have learned that one problem I have for completing work is the amount of screen time I have each day as increased a lot since last school year, so I have been burning myself out faster than normal. I have found a way to somewhat solve this problem from talking with my family, we plan to get me some blue light filtering glasses to allow me to work longer before I get headaches and eye pains.