Principles of Game design

In this article we will be exploring and comparing the principles of game design from two games:
Grand Theft Auto V and Fallout 4. We will be exploring elements of visual design and gameplay to
understand how they shape each game.

Visual design
World and Setting

In Grand Theft Auto 5 you play in a vibrant, modern, open world Los Angeles known as Los Santos.
Los Santos contains a variety of different areas which include the main city where the bulk of the
gameplay takes place, run down gang controlled areas which is the home of one of the main
characters, expensive homes and mansions built on the hills, long beaches with boardwalks and
hippies included, large industrial zones, an expansive mountainous wilderness, large deserts full of
trailer parks which is the home of another main character and finally the whole place is surrounded
by a massive ocean which can be fully explored with submarines or a diving suit.

In Fallout 4 you play in an open world Boston 200 years after a nuclear war where culture is frozen in
the 1950s. Most of the areas throughout the world have been destroyed or severely damaged and
many of the buildings are only skeletons of their former selves. There are a few large settlements
where humanity is trying to rebuild as well as a couple dozen smaller settlements dotted around the
world. You can explore the crash site of one of the nearest nukes where radiation is incredibly high
and creatures have mutated into deadly beasts. There are also many vaults which are inhabited by
the survivors of the nuclear blast which were built by a company called "Vault-Tec" before the
nuclear war.

Characters

In Grand Theft Auto 5 you take control of 3 main characters named "Michael", "Franklin" and
"Trevor". Michael is an alcoholic middle-aged father, Franklin is a young black gang member and
finally Trevor is a psychotic meth addict. You can change between the three characters at any time
via a character selection wheel which is brought up after you press the assigned button for more
than two seconds.

In Fallout 4 you create your own character who can be either male or female and has a name of your
choice. Your character exists during the 1950's just before the nuclear war, when nuclear strikes are
announced your character becomes a member of the local vault named "Vault 11" and seeks refuge
from the nuclear strike with your spouse.

Feedback interface

Grand Theft Auto 5's HUD uses a standard design with a simplistic style using solid colours, it
features a mini-map, health bar, armour bar, skill bar, money display, ammo counter, wanted level,
weapon wheel, location display and a character selection wheel.

Fallout 4's HUD uses a minimalistic design showing only what is vital to the player and also uses a
simplistic style using solid colours, it features a health bar, radiation meter built into the health bar,
compass with points of interest, action point bar, ammo counter and enemy health bar.

Perspectives

Originally Grand Theft Auto 5 only had a third person perspective, this allowed the player to see the
character they were playing as however after a major update to the game they added the option to
switch between third person and first person perspective allowing the player to get closer to the
action and see things through their characters eyes.

Similarly to Grand theft Auto 5, Fallout 4 uses both first person and third person perspectives
however unlike GTA V, Fallout 4 had both options at launch allowing players who liked either
perspective to enjoy the game from the get-go.

Interaction model
Both Grand Theft Auto 5 and Fallout 4 use an Avatar interaction model as opposed to an
omnipresence interaction model. An Avatar interaction model means that the players actions are
represented by the single character the player controls, this model is the most common interaction
model and is present in genres like FPS, RPG, Racing and others. An omnipresence interaction model
means that the player acts like a god-like figure and doesnt embody a single character allowing
them to control multiple units/characters at once, this is most commonly used in strategy games.

Single/Multiplayer
Fallout 4 is a single player only game meaning that the player cannot play with or against other
players within the game, single player games pit the player against computer controlled enemies or
make the player complete certain tasks. Grand Theft Auto 5 is a single player and a multiplayer
game, allowing the player to switch between both modes. Multiplayer games allow the player to
interact, compete or cooperate with other players.

Narrative

Grand Theft Auto 5's story starts with a Bank heist gone wrong which causes the crew to retire from
bank robbing, after a couple of years one of the characters has a debt he can't pay off so turns back
to bank robbing, you follow this character and his crew as he robs bank after bank. Fallout 4's story
starts during an alternate 1950's, nuclear strikes are declared and you and your family rush towards
the nearest nuclear fallout shelter known as a vault, your son is kidnapped and then you are
cryogenically frozen for roughly 200 years, you follow the character as he emerges from cryostasis
and tries to find his son.

Goals and Challenges

The goal in Grand Theft Auto 5 is to complete the story and steal millions of dollars however there
are side missions known as Strangers and freaks which allow you to help out a number of characters
within the world, for example you help out a character named "Beverly" who is a celebrity journalist
take pictures of celebrities as they try to escape. The goal in Fallout 4 is to find your son however
there are side quests, some of these side quests help out certain factions within the game one such
example is that you help save certain settlements from danger and help them rebuild for a character
named "Preston Garvey" who is a member of the minutemen.

Rewards
In Grand Theft Auto 5 whenever you complete a goal or challenge of any sort you are awarded some
money, money is needed to buy everything from expensive cars to powerful weapons, right down to
the clothes you wear. Money can also be invested into the in-game stock market and you can even
turn a profit from this if you are good at understanding data trends. In Fallout 4 whenever you
complete a quest you are awarded some experience, when you have enough experience you will
level up which will give you one skill point, these skill points can be invested into one of the many
skill in the skill tree which can help benefit your character in many ways.

Player Actions and Repercussions

Whenever a player does something within a game the engine needs to decide if it was a good thing
or a bad thing, if the engine decides that what the player did was good then the player should be
rewarded whereas if the engine decides that the action was bad then there will need to be negative
repercussions for that action. For example in Grand Theft Auto 5 whenever you kill multiple civilians
you become "wanted", when in this phase the police will actively chase you and try to kill you, if you
commit more crimes then the severity of your wanted level will rise increasing the amount of police
after you as well as the types of police such as S.W.A.T units. Whenever you do something wrong in
Fallout 4 such as not doing a quest in an allotted time you will fail that quest which means you will
miss out on experience needed to further your character and In extreme cases you may even
become hostile with some characters.

Rules and Mechanics

Rules and mechanics of the game should be decided during the design phase of game development.
Developers need to decide what will happen in the game when certain conditions are met, they also

need to decide what actions the player will make and which of these actions they want to encourage
and which of these actions to discourage. Developers also need to make sure that everything within
the game works well together, there is no point having a large fight and then having to walk halfway
across the map just to relay a message to someone, everything should contribute towards the bigger
picture of the game and to keep the player progressing.

Difficulty and Balance

When making a game developers need to decide how difficult the game will be, this can either be a
set difficulty, chosen by the player via difficulty levels or changed depending on how well the player
is doing. The developers need to make sure that during the early stages the game is not too hard so
as to allow the player to get used to the controls and how different mechanics of the game work
however developers also need to consider that the late stages of the game are not too easy for the
player either because they are given too many items that benefit them or enemies are just too weak.
Developers also need to consider balance within the game, one item should not perform better than
any other unless it is a direct upgrade otherwise that item will become the only item the player will
use and will ignore any others. This becomes a bigger issue in multiplayer games, if one player has an
unfair advantage over another player that player may leave the game and decide not to play again
because they feel that they will not be able to beat other players based on pure skill alone.

Feedback
Whenever the player completes something they need feedback to tell them how well they are doing
or how fast they are improving. In Grand Theft Auto 5 whenever you complete a mission a dialogue
box appears displaying a rank as well as other info such as time taken and objectives completed. In
Fallout 4 you can look at all of you completed quests within the quest log in your "pip-boy" this
allows you to see how far you have come, it also displays all of the quests you have not completed
along with a short description so that you can choose which one to pursue next.

Addiction
Although it is a controversial subject, addiction is good for games because it gives the player reason
to come back to the game, you dont want a player playing two hours of your game during their first
session and then deciding they don't want to play it any more. Developers need to consider what
elements of the game will be addictive and how to make sure these elements are effective. This can
be as simple as providing the player with lots of content or can things such as rewarding the player
for completing certain different tasks within the game.

Bibliography
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