Intro and Rationale: Our game requires players to interact with multiple mini-games, all played with different players from one’s opposing team. For a game I could play solo while getting a similar experience, I chose Dumb Ways to Die. DWTD is a game that presents a humorous approach to the topic of dangerous behavior, which is the game’s unique “fun factor”.
Although DWTD doesn’t have the same element of fellowship and discourse our game has because of its lack of teamwork and options to play with multiple players, it did give me insight into how players may react to playing different mini-games consecutively.
Theme: The theme of DWTD is centered around avoiding dangerous situations that could lead to death. The game presents various scenarios in which the player has to save their character from harm. The theme is effectively conveyed through the game’s visual design, sound effects, and humorous approach to these scenarios. The characters are designed to look like blobs which the player has to save from death. I do think designing them as blob-like creatures makes their death easier to humourise and makes it understandable that they’re so prone to silly and dangerous behaviour.
Mechanics: DWTD uses simple yet effective game mechanics, such as tapping, swiping, and tilting the device to save the character. The mechanics are easy to understand, making the mini-games relatively simple to complete. That isn’t to say they’re necessarily easy. If a player isn’t familiar with the mini-games, the time crunch poses a significant challenge to learn them as one plays. That is to say, the more a player plays the game, the simpler it gets, but the increasing time crunch keeps the challenge constant.
“Fun”: DWTD offers several types of fun for players, including challenge, sensation, and fantasy. The challenge comes from the need to be quick and precise in saving the characters, and the timed events add an additional layer of difficulty. Sensation comes from the visual and audio effects that accompany the game’s scenarios. Fantasy is delivered through the game’s humorous approach to dangerous scenarios. The game manages to balance all these types of fun, creating an enjoyable gameplay experience.
Achievement of Goals: The game’s mechanics are well-suited to its theme. The game’s humorous approach to dangerous situations is a unique take on the theme and helps to make the game stand out from others in the genre. The game also successfully appeals to a broad audience, with its simple mechanics making it accessible to all ages. However, I’d say that there is a learning curve to the game that might frustrate new players due to its lack of instructions. When a player starts playing, they’re presented with very few instructions on how to complete mini-games and it takes more of a learn-as-you-do approach.
Comparison to other games in its genre: Dumb Ways to Die stands out in its genre due to its unique approach to a serious topic. Other games in the genre of mobile casual games that feature mini-games mostly revolve around skill-based challenges, such as speed or accuracy. In contrast, Dumb Ways to Die takes a humorous approach to dangerous behavior and death. The game’s mini-games present different scenarios that are easy to understand, yet challenging enough to keep players engaged. This unique combination of humor and skill-based challenges sets it apart from other games in its genre. It’s also different from games which involve mini-games but are multiplayer, since this requires only one player.
Handling of abuse: While abuse is a critical concern for social games, Dumb Ways to Die does not have an online multiplayer component, thus making it less prone to abuse. However, the topic of death is very present and may be triggering/disorienting to some, but definitely not as much as first-person shooter games.
Things I’d change: One improvement that could be made to the game is to provide clearer explanations for each mini-game. Some of the mini-games can be confusing, and players may not understand what they are supposed to do until they have played the game multiple times. Providing clear instructions for each mini-game would help players understand what they are supposed to do and allow them to enjoy the game more. Additionally, more variety could be added to the mini-games to prevent the game from becoming too repetitive. Finally, the addition of a multiplayer mode could provide a more social experience for players and add an extra layer of fun to the game and introduce that element of discourse and fellowship that we’re going for in our own game.
