.wk5.Vintage.Game.Play.

Destiny Askin

Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Asteroids

Released: 1979

Atari, Inc.

Designers: Lyle Rains & Ed Logg

1 - What is the game genre (e.g. shoot-em-up, racing, sports, puzzle, MMORPG, ‘sandbox’, music sequence following game (e.g. DDR, guitar hero)


Multi-Directional Shooter, Vector Game

2 -What is the type of game ‘world’ or environment (e.g. flat environment, puzzle/maze space, 3D world?)

Flat Environment in space


3 - What is the perspective taken by player (e.g first person, third person perspective, top down, isometric) in relation to main player controlled character.

Top-down perspective


4 - What is the actual gameplay – what does the player have to do?

The player maneuvers a space ship to shoot asteroids and UFO's.  The objective is to stay alive and in space as long as possible.


5 - Is the gameplay intuitive? (i.e. is it easy to understand what to do without instructions?) 

Yes.  The game is very basic and easily learned.  On a keyboard, the only keys you need are the arrows to maneuver and the space bar to shoot.


6 - Is the gameplay patterned (game does the same thing over & over) or is it random (happens differently every time?)

The game play is random.  By this I mean the size and order in which the asteroids appear and fly toward you is different in each game.

7 - What does the type of graphic approach used as well as the audio tell you about the limits of the technology at the time the game was published?


It really shows the limits to graphics and movement.  As well as the limit to what could be programmed within a game.  The game play is so simple that very little happens, but it still incorporates a randomness.


8 - Describe your views about the game from the point of view of


1. Ease of play: Asteroids is pretty easy once you get down the arrow controls.  It's a little counter intuitive because when you press the left arrow, your spaceship turns right.  Other than that the game play is all about coordination.


2. Enjoyability: I think it was probably very fun for it's time.  But the game play gets fairly monotonous after a short time.  The only things you can do are move and shoot.


c) Level of engagement/immersion: For me it was pretty low.  The graphics are very very simple and the game play was too basic to really get into the game for a long period of time. It didn't feel like a challenge.


9 - Had you played this game prior to this time? If so, when?


I didn't think i'd played it, but once i played for a while I faintly remember playing in an arcade as a child.


10 - what does playing the game remind you of in terms of other games/media?


It was a vector based game so it reminded me of the simple line drawings I created when first learning Adobe Illustrator.  The top down perspective reminded me of a zelda game I used to play on the original nintendo system.  But as far as modern games, I could see it as a pre-curser to first person type shooter games.  Where the objective is to shoot other people/creatures/objects to gain points and stay alive.