Homework 11

Chapter 15

1. This isn't really a question, but I'll attempt to "answer" it anyways. A goal with no obstacle leads to easy or empty achievement. Game design aside, people like to be challenged. People like overcoming challenges. People like challenges so much that they like being challenged in their proverbial entertainment medias. So within game design, it is intrinsically important to have a challenge or obstacle the player can overcome to make the goal or achievement feel more worthwhile and satisfactory.
2. I pretty much just answered that in question number one; but basically, the main character personifies the player/user in the virtual realm. The main character's feelings, desires, and goals essentially become the player's as they control the main character. When the main character has a goal or objective, the player then makes it his or her own objective and therefore seeks to complete it. The main character cares about the objective because -- bluntly -- he was programmed to. Although given a character within a story, one could argue that the plot is what drives the main character and is why he cares about the objective.
3. So within our game, the obstacles between the character and the goal are essentially the enemies and various hacking devices. Enemies literally stand in your way and you find a violent or non-violent way through them. While hacking serves more as a means to an end.
4. Yes, through the implementation of increasing damage dealt by and health of enemies encountered and  harder difficulty of hacking mini-game depending on what floor of the building you have reached. Also, boss battles and optional difficulty levels would have to be included. 
5. I would say ultimately, no, our character does not transform. But he does complete his objective despite rigorous adversity as he grows in power and skill throughout. 
6. Infinitely. One obvious example would be the fact that our game world merely consists of an office building. The player never actually gets to leave or traverse outside of the building. That fact alone would make our game world more simpler than the real world.
7. Well he's not going to go down after one bullet like most human beings, that would just be un-fun gameplay. And I think that's really the only transcendent quality we are giving him.
8. We haven't really worked out all of the finite details to our game's story, but it would probably have to be why exactly he is he infiltrating and taking down this evil company. We don't know, no one knows, not even him!
9. Our character is an emotionless, trained spy; he is a mechanical weapon used by the organization he works for. He does not question. He does not wonder why. He just simply does. The player essentially becomes this character and follows suit. This leaves the player closer to the character and allows the player to imagine their own reasons why or to just simply do as our character does and follow orders.
10. Yes. Our ideas for the story should inherently drive the player to want to play our game beyond blind, mechanical fun. Our story will be motivation and our gameplay will be inspiration.

Chapter 16

1. The player will be able to roam freely within the building but may never leave. Sort of like Hotel California, but less lovely. The player should feel free within our office building because it provides just enough sandbox to encourage creativity, but not too much to avoid overwhelming confusion.
2. I just answered that again in the previous question, but to restate basically, the player cannon leave the building, but it will not make the player feel trapped. It will more than likely make them feel more guided and centralized on the task at hand.
3. Ideally, I would like the layers to have fun and immerse themselves in our game. I've played games before that were more narrow-minded, and it usually became a whole other game to me to try to find errors or bugs that made the game seem silly instead of its intended seriousness. 
4. Yes, much like what I talked about previously, the player isn't going to feel like they're forced into this building because it's all they know and they will focus on the task at hand. Just like Plato's allegory in the cave, our player will only know his world of shadows (or in this case office buildings filled with evil executives).
5. I mean, the interface has less to do with what we as designers want the player to do. Our interface is all very standard and what we expect out of the player is all very standard, we just have to make sure everything runs smoothly so that the player can get an enjoyable, immersive experience.