A comparative computer game analysis:

core game elements and their evolution over time

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Dipl. Inform. Helmut Eirund, Hochschule Bremen
2 August 2010

Dipl.-Inf (FH) Tobias Hildebrandt

Master Digitale Medien, Fachbereich 3
Universität Bremen
Matrikelnummer: 2337614
Tobias_Hildebrandt@gmx.de
Abstract
This paper tries to answer the question, up to which degree core elements of the first commercial
PC games are still in use in current bestseller computer games. In order to answer this question, out
of the genres action, strategy, adventure/rpg and sports four games each are analyzed that were said
to be innovative or trend-setting. These games are then compared to the currently most successful
games of their genres (according to sales statistics of Amazon.com).
For the genre action "Pac-girl" (1983), "Prince of Persia" (1990), "Doom" (1993) and "Grand Teft
Auto 3" (2002) are being analyzed. For the genre strategy "Sokoban" (1984), "Sim City" (1989),
"Dune 2" (1992) and "The Sims" (2000) are taken into account. "Zork" (1982), "Kings Quest"
(1987), "Dungeon Master" (1989) and "Ultima Online" (1997) are being evaluated for the genre
adventure/rpg. Finally, the genre sports is being represented by the games "Pole Position" (1986),
"Indianapolis 500" (1989), "Fifa International Soccer" (1994) and "Midtown Madness" (1999). This
analysis is completed by up-to-date games of all these genres. The factors for the analysis are game
design patterns, elements of the game component framework, user interaction, narration and the
audio-visual style.

Keywords: Game Design, Game Design Patterns, Computer Games, Evolution of Computer Games,
Game Component Framework, Computer Game Studies

2
Table of contents
1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................5
2 Methodologies ..................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Overview over accepted methodologies....................................................................................6
2.2 Selection of methodologies for this paper.................................................................................7
2.3 Selection of games.....................................................................................................................9
2.4 The game elements' tables.......................................................................................................10
3 Game analysis .................................................................................................................................11
3.1 Action.......................................................................................................................................11
3.2 Strategy....................................................................................................................................16
3.3 Adventure/Role Playing Game................................................................................................20
3.4 Sports.......................................................................................................................................24
4 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................29
4.1 Answering the research question.............................................................................................31
4.2 Discussion of results and future research................................................................................31
5 Appendix .........................................................................................................................................32
5.1 A: Action game elements.........................................................................................................32
5.2 B: Strategy game elements......................................................................................................34
5.3 C: Adventure/RPG game elements..........................................................................................37
5.4 D: Sports game elements.........................................................................................................39
5.5 E: List of references.................................................................................................................42

3
List of abbreviations
3D Three-dimensional
MMORPG Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing
Game
MS-DOS Microsoft Disk Operating System
PC Personal Computer
RPG Role playing game

4
Introduction

1 Introduction
When having a look at the first PC games, one has the feeling that computer games developed a lot
until know. This seems to be the case not only in terms of graphics and sound, but one also has the
impression that games are a lot more complex on every level. For example when comparing a game
like “Pac-Man” with the current “Grand Theft Auto” (GTA) 4, the size of “GTA 4”'s game world
seems endlessly bigger than a “Pac-Man”-level, as do the possible actions a player can take.
One may therefore be inclined to say that current games do not have much of the elements of the
first games anymore, but completely reinvented themselves. This is a question tried to be answered
by this paper. First, the methods which are to be applied for this comparison are being discussed.
Then the games are presented that have been chosen for this analysis, together with an explanation
why these specific games have been chosen for this process. Then the elements of this games are
analyzed, divided into the four genres action, strategy, adventure/rpg and sports. Lastly the
conclusion tries to answer the question
“Up to which degree are core elements of the first commercial PC games still in use in
current bestseller computer games, and how does this differ in various genres?”

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2 Methodologies
This chapter presents the methods that have been applied in this study. First it presents a short
overview over generally accepted methodologies of game analysis, followed by a description of the
methods selected to conduct this study. This chapter is completed with a short justification of the
games that have been selected for this comparison and explanations on the tables of game elements
that can be found in the Appendix.

2.1 Overview over accepted methodologies

One of the most comprehensive books about game design theory is "Rules of play – game design
fundamentals" by Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman [Sa04]. In this book the authors suggest
models, theories and a vocabulary to describe game design. The same authors also published "The
Game Design Reader – A Rules of Play Anthology" [Sa06], which is a broad collection of essays
on game design, from both practitioners as well as from scientists perspectives. These two books
offer a comprehensive framework to describe game design in a formalized way. Craig Lindley in his
essay "Game Taxonomies: A High Level Framework for Game Analysis and Design" [Li@03]
suggests a model of dimensions to differentiate games into different categories, which can as an
addition to Salen and Zimmermans' work be used to describe game design.
In "Adapting the Principles of Ludology to the Method of Video Game Content Analysis" by Steven
Malliet [Ma07], the author tries to sum up in a short article a schema for qualitative content analysis
of video games that divides games into elements to be analyzed. In contrary to the other works
presented so far, Malliet not only concentrates on ways to formally describe game design, but also
to describe parts of the overall experience of games, like the audiovisual style. He divides the game
elements that can be analyzed into the following categories:
• Audiovisual style
• Narration
• Complexity of controls
• Game goals
• Character and object structure
• Balance between user input and preprogrammed rules

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Methodologies

• Spatial properties of the game world.

Mia Consalvo and Nathan Dutton in "Game analysis: Developing a methodological toolkit for the
qualitative study of games" [Co06] also offer a schema to distinguish the elements of a game to be
analyzed in a qualitative content analysis. They however suggest to differentiate between object
inventory, interface study, interaction map and game play log. One of the most frequently used
terms in game design analysis is "game mechanics". Lundgren and Björk define game mechanics as
"[…] any part of the rule system of a game that covers one, and only one, possible kind of
interaction that takes place during the game, be it general or specific.”1
further stating that game mechanics can also be regarded as a way to summarize game rules [Lu03].
Another way to analyze game play are game design patterns. This concept was suggested by Staffan
Björk and Jussi Holopainen in their book "Patterns in Game Design"[Bj04]. The authors state that
"Each pattern describes a part of the interaction possible in games [...]"2, while they differentiate
the game components into the categories holistic, structural, boundary and temporal. In [Bj@],
Björk and Holopainen further state that the concept of game mechanics is not useful for academic
research, as it is not strictly defined. The authors therefore suggest to convert game mechanics into
game design patterns, by merging several mechanics into one game design pattern and also to
identify more abstract game design patterns that could not be described by game mechanics. The
authors themselves borrowed their idea from Bernd Kreimeier, who suggested the use of patterns in
"The Case For Game Design Patterns" [Kr@02].

2.2 Selection of methodologies for this paper

The methodologies used for this paper try to take up the best fitting methodologies of those
presented in the last sub-chapter. This paper tries to find out if core components of historical games
are still in use, and this task can be solved either by game mechanics or game design patterns. Due
to the reasons stated by [Bj@], the author of this paper agrees that game design patterns are better
suitable to analyze games than game mechanics, which is why this paper bases on game design
patterns. The concept of game design patterns is in this paper combined with the game component
framework that was introduced in [Bj04]. The game component framework divides a game into the
components "Boundary", "Holistic", "Temporal" and "Structural" (as illustrated in Figure 1).

1 [Lu03], page 48
2 [Bj04], page 4

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Methodologies

Figure 1: Game Component Framework [Bj04]

Elements of the game component framework supplement the found game design patterns, whenever
gameplay elements cannot be described by solely analyzing game design patterns. Except for two
exceptions, where game design patterns have been defined in the course of analyzing games (the
patterns "level selection" and "fixed direction"), all of the game design patterns mentioned in this
paper were already defined in [Bj04].
The game narratives can also be described by certain game design patterns, even if however not in
all of its aspects. Therefore the game's narratives are analyzed separately. If a game contains a
background story at all, it is analyzed how the story is told (usually in the form of introduction
scenes, cutscenes and dialogues) and if the story follows a linear path (meaning that all story
elements are ordered in a certain sequence, or that the player can influence the sequence of events).
Furthermore, it is analyzed if the players' decisions and actions can influence the story's ending,
leading to multiple endings.
Another very important factor for the overall play experience, and therefore one of the core game
components is the way players can interact with a game. Therefore this aspect will also be part of
this analysis.
These three factors, game design pattern, narration and user interaction are applied to describe the
core game elements. One element that is not part of the core mechanics of a game, but instead
responsible for how these concepts, rules and mechanics are presented to the player is the
audiovisual style. Figure 2 provides an overview of the aspects of games that are considered in this
paper.

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Methodologies

User

Audiovisual style

User interaction

Game
Game Game
Design Component Narration
Patterns Framework

Figure 2: Aspects of game analysis

The other game elements described in the system of Malliet [Ma07] (complexity of controls, game
goals, character and object structure, balance between user input and preprogrammed rules and
spatial properties of the game world) have not been taken into account for this work, as they do not
necessarily represent core game elements that have substantial influence on gameplay. The same is
true for the method described in [Co06] (object inventory, interface study, interaction map and
gameplay log).

2.3 Selection of games

The game analysis of this paper is divided into the genres action, strategy, adventure/rpg and sports.
The games selected for this comparison are all said to have been especially innovative in some area.
The first games of each of the chosen genres (published between 1982 and 1986) are usually some
of the first PC games in their specific genre. The second (1987 to 1990), third (1989 to 1994) and
fourth (1997-2002) selection of games introduced innovations of some kind into the genre. These
innovations were either technical (often the switch from a 2D to a 3D game world) or in terms of
gameplay and game mechanics. The detailed innovations that lead for those games being selected
for this papers are being described in the next chapter. The last game presented at each genre is

9
Methodologies

always a current bestseller of its genre. In terms of methodology, the bestselling charts from
Amazon.com (www.amazon.com), probably one of the biggest retailers of computer games
worldwide, was taken. The bestselling games were taken into account at 19.09 hours (GMT+1) on
11 June 2010. Games that have not been taken into account were such ones that were not yet
available at the time of retrieval, but for pre-sale. Also not taken into account were expansion packs
to other games, or low-priced reissues. As just full-priced games should be taken into account in
order to avoid selling advantages for low-priced games, a minimum of price of 30 U.S. dollar was
established for games to be considered.

2.4 The game elements' tables

The Appendix (chapter 5) contains tables for each genre that compare all the game elements of the
evaluated games. If a table cell is colored in green, it means that the respective game element is
included in or has been applied to that specific game. If a cell is colored in yellow, the respective
game element is partly included in the game, or the respective concept cannot completely be applied
to the specific game. For example the game design pattern “level” cannot completely be applied to a
game like “Sim City”: Although the maps of “Sim City” are very similar to the concept of a “level”,
they are not exactly the same. Another such example would be the temporal closure “all puzzles
solved” - in an adventure game like “Kings Quest”, the solving of all puzzles is indeed a closure,
because solving puzzles makes up most of the game's goals. In a rpg like “Dungeon Master”
however, solving puzzles is just one part of the game (besides killing monsters).
If a cell is not colored at all, this means that the respective game element has not been applied to the
specific game.

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Methodologies

3 Game analysis
This chapter is separated into individual sub-chapters which describe the selected games in each of
the analyzed genres, followed by a conclusion concerning the development in terms of game design
patterns and framework elements used in these games.

3.1 Action
Usually such games are considered to be action games, that demand fast reactions from their
players. Typical activities in action games include fast movement, evasion and fighting. The genre
action consists of various sub-genres, the most famous nowadays probably being first-person
shooters, platform games and fighting games. What follows is an analysis of five action games.

Pac-girl

“Pac-girl” (Figure 3) is a clone of Namco's famous “Pac-Man”. It has been released for MS-DOS in
May 1982, sometimes under the name "Pac-Gal". It has been programmed by Al J. Jimenez, while
the game contains no information about if the author developed it alone or as an employee of a
company. According to the comprehensive game database of Moby Games
(www.mobygames.com), it has been one of the first action games for the PC. “Pac-Man” itself was
a classic video game with a lot of portings and reissues and is for many a synonym for video games
in general.

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Game analysis

Figure 3: Pac-girl

Prince of Persia
“Prince of Persia” (Figure 4) is a side-scrolling platform game with fighting elements released for
MS-DOS in 1990 by Brøderbund Software Inc. It is said to have introduced a new quality of
animation, and also the concept of sword fights was very unusual at that time.
Several elements contained in “Pac-girl” have not been applied in “Prince of Persia”, among them
“lives”, “score” and “perfect information”. In contrast to “Pac-girl” it contained a background story
and background music.

Figure 4: Prince of Persia

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Game analysis

Doom
“Doom” (Figure 5) is one of the most famous first-person shooters and was released for MS-DOS
by id Software Inc. in 1993. Due to displayed violence its sale was restricted in Germany by the
governmental authority "Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien". It offered one of the
first freely accessible 3D environments and is often considered to be one of the most influential
computer games. Concerning game elements, almost all of those applied to “Prince of Persia” have
been used also in “Doom”.

Figure 5: Doom

Grand Thef Auto 3

“Grand Theft Auto 3” (Figure 6) is a third-person action game released in 2002 for Windows by
Rockstar Games Inc. Due to its very open, sandbox-style play system combined with a very big
game world it was considered very important for the action genre. It did not invent the sandbox-
system, but it was one of the most influential games of its kind, and one of the most successful
games in general. The most significant changes in terms of game elements, compared to “Doom”,
are the disappearances of the concepts “level” together with “alternative reality”.

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Game analysis

Figure 6: Grand Theft Auto 3

Battlefield Bad Company 2

“Battlefield Bad Company 2” (Figure 7) is a first-person shooter and was released by Electronic
Arts Inc. for Windows in 2010. It can be considered as a very classical example of a first-person
shooter, with a special focus on multi-player possibilities. It is part of the Battlefield series and was
very well received by the specialized press. Concerning game elements, almost all of those applied
to “GTA 3” have also been used in “Battlefield Bad Company 2”.

Figure 7: Battlefield Bad Company 2

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Game analysis

Conclusion
Out of the 37 evaluated aspects, 20 are still in use in the latest example of action games, while 17
are not. This is true for 14 out of the 19 patterns, but only for four of the 12 framework elements.
Aspects that were no longer used in new actions games involve patterns such as "lives", a concept
that probably just did not fit anymore to the development of first-person shooters being more and
more realistic in the latest years (as in reality humans just have one life). Another trend was a
transition from a top-down viewers-perspective to a first-person perspective. In the early PC games
a complete level (or map) could be overlooked by the player at any given time (as in “Pac-girl” for
example), something that is not possible in games applying a first-person perspective. Therefore,
the game design pattern "complete information" has been applied to games less and less over the
years. Then there are some pattern/framework elements that were used in the early games and have
not been used in some of the games while being reintroduced again at some point. One example of
such a pattern/framework element is the classical pattern "level", which did not fit in with the open
sandbox-style gameplay of “GTA 3” (where a complete city serves as the game world), but is used
in the latest example, “Battlefield Bad Company 2”.
Another example are the patterns “score/highscore”, which have not applied in "Prince of Persia",
"Doom" and “GTA 3”, but reappeared in "Battlefield Bad Company 2". This may be due to the fact
that the online communities that come with the latest generation of game consoles (like for example
the X-Box-live system for the Microsoft X-Box console) all include online highscore lists and
reward systems for achieving special goals in games (like Microsofts Xbox Rewards System).
Then there are some patterns/framework elements which were applied in all of the evaluated games.
It might be argued that these therefore seem to be inherent to the genre action. These
patterns/framework elements include for example "pick-ups", "direct movement", "enemies",
"obstacles", "real time games", "game world", "death of player" , "elimination of enemy player" or
"avatar". In terms of user interaction, there did not seem to have been substantial changes over the
years. The basic concept of controlling the players character directly with the arrow keys was
applied in all of the evaluated games. In terms of narration however, there seem to have been an
evolution. After "Pac-girl", all games evaluated contained at least some kind of background story.
All of the evaluated games contained sound feedback, but “Pac-girl” did not yet contain background
music (all later games did).
The camera perspective switched from a top-down perspective in “Pac-girl” to a side scrolling one
in “Prince of Persia” to a three dimensional first-person perspective in “Doom”. The subsequent

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Game analysis

“GTA 3” kept its perspective three-dimensional, but instead of a first person it used a third-person
perspective. The latest game evaluated, "Battlefield Bad Company 2" applied a first-person
perspective again. As already mentioned, “Pac-Girl” was the first and last of the evaluated games to
present a complete level on one screen (which was due to technical limitations of that time, but of
course also had a considerable influence on gameplay). The complete list of game elements and in
which action games they have been included can be found in Appendix A.

3.2 Strategy
Strategy games are usually games that require players not so much to have fast reaction skills, but
encourage mid- and long-term planning and the development and execution of tactics. Strategy
includes sub-genres such as real-time and turn-based strategy, simulation and puzzle games. For this
paper “construction and management games” are also considered to be a sub-genre of strategy,
although they are often considered to be a genre of its own. What follows is an analysis of five
strategy games.

Sokoban
“Sokoban” (Figure 8) was one of the first strategy games for the PC, and was released for MS-DOS
in 1984 by Spectrum Holobyte, Inc. It was one of the founders of the sub-genre "transportation
puzzle" and has been ported for various game consoles and mobile phones over the time.

Figure 8: Sokoban

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Game analysis

Sim City
“Sim City” (Figure 9) is said to be the founder of the sub-genre "city-building" and was released by
Infrogrames Europe SA for MS-DOS in 1989. Numerous successors and portings have been
released since. Several elements contained in “Sokoban” have not been applied in “Sim City”,
among them “movement”, “score”, “perfect information” and “predictable consequences”. In
contrast to “Sokoban” it had no direct game goal anymore, and contained a background music while
offering indirect mouse movement instead of direct keyboard interaction.

Figure 9: Sim City

Dune 2
“Dune 2” (Figure 10), being one the first real-time strategy games, is said to have laid out the
foundations for all real-time strategy games to follow. It was released by Virgin Games Inc. for MS-
DOS in 1992. Some elements from “Sim City” that are not at the very core of gameplay have not
been applied to “Dune 2”.

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Game analysis

Figure 10: Dune 2

The Sims
“The Sims” (Figure 11), a life-simulation game, was released by Electronic Arts Inc. for Windows
in 2000. It is probably one of the games with the highest share of female users (according to its
publisher Electronic Arts [PC@], the female share of players of “The Sims” is 65 %). Therefore,
“The Sims” is said to have lead the foundations for games more oriented towards female players.
According to [Th@05], including expansions packs, “The Sims” has been the most successful PC
game until 7 February 2005. With its seven expansion packs alone for the first part of the Sims
trilogy, “The Sims” is very likely to be one of the PC Games with the highest amount of released
expansions so far. The only element from “Dune 2” not applied in “The Sims” is “levels”.

Figure 11: The Sims

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Game analysis

The Sims 3
“The Sims 3” (Figure 12) is a successor of the earlier presented "The Sims" and was released by
Electronic Arts Inc. for Windows in 2009. Without having conducted a deep game play analysis, it
seems that there have not been significant changes in terms of game mechanics. The main areas of
improvement seem to be graphics as well as minor gameplay fine-tunings. Concerning game
elements, almost all of those applied to “The Sims” have been used also in “The Sims 3”.

Figure 12: The Sims 3

Conclusion
Out of 40 evaluated aspects, 17 are still used in the latest strategy games, while 23 are not. This is
true for 14 out of the 20 patterns, but only for one of the 14 framework elements. Some of those that
are still in use have been used in all 5 evaluated games, which makes them maybe inherent to the
genre strategy. These includes elements such as for example the pattern "consistent reality logic". It
makes sense to include this pattern in strategy games, because if things would happen merely by
chance instead of following observable rules, there would be not much motivation for the player to
plan carefully. Another pattern which was applied in all evaluated games is "save-load-cycles",
describing that the player has the possibility to save a current game state and resume it at any given
time. As strategy games are mostly games that can rarely be finished within one single game
session, it makes sense to apply this pattern. One pattern which does not seem to be inherent to the
genre "strategy", but which is applied in all evaluated games nonetheless, is "real-time games".
Since almost all games of any genre nowadays are real time, this seems to be an general trend.
The pattern "levels" however, applied in "Sokoban", "Sim City" and "Dune 2" was not applied in

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Game analysis

"The Sims" and "The Sims 3". This may be a hint that there might have been a trend (like possibly
in other genres) towards more open-ended, sandbox-style games in the strategy genre. Also not used
in later games is the pattern "perfect information", leading towards more uncertainty to be
considered by the player of more current strategy games. This pattern may have been ignored
purposefully so as to create more tension for the player as well as more complexity. Other than "The
Sims" all evaluated games tell some kind of background story in the form of introductory videos or
cutscenes, although just "Dune 2" offers a very extensive background story.
The interaction in the genre strategy seemed to have followed a trend from a direct character
movement with arrow keys in "Sokoban" to an indirect point-and-click interaction from "Sim City"
onwards.
All evaluated games offer sound feedback, while a background music was introduced from "Sim
City" onwards.
The trend in terms of camera perspective went from a top-down perspective in "Sokoban", where a
complete level fit into just one screen, to a (still top-down) scrollable camera perspective in "Sim
City". "Dune 2" switched from a top-down to a two-dimensional isometric perspective, whereas
"The Sims 3" is the first of the evaluated strategy games to use a three-dimensional perspective.
The complete list of game elements and in which strategy games they have been included can be
found in Appendix B.

3.3 Adventure/Role Playing Game

Adventures and role playing games (or rpgs) are usually games that are both very much centered
around a narration, and in which the player takes the role of a character in a fictional setting. While
the main goal of most adventures is to solve puzzles (mostly without requiring fast reactions), rpgs
are in most cases additionally about discovering, fighting and character development. For this
research, both genres are analyzed combined. What follows is an analysis of five adventure games
and rpgs.

Zork: The Great Underground Empire

“Zork: The Great Underground Empire” (Figure 13), one of the first adventure games for the PC,
was released by Infocom Inc. in 1982 for MS-DOS. “Zork” was a text adventure, with a text parser
that was widely regarded as having been the best of its era.

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Game analysis

Figure 13: Zork: The Great Underground Empire

Kings Quest
"Kings Quest" (Figure 14), released by Sierra On-Line Inc in 1987 for MS-DOS, was one of the
first graphical adventure games. In contrast to "Zork", it was no longer turn-based, and contained
background music.

Figure 14: Kings Quest

Dungeon Master
"Dungeon Master" (Figure 15), which is said to be the founder of the sub-genre "Dungeon Role-
Playing Game", was released by FTL Games for MS-DOS in 1989. Many consider “Dungeon
Master” to be the best example of Dungeon Role-Playing Games. Furthermore, it is considered to
be the first real-time 3D Action Computer Role-Playing Game. Some of the elements of "Kings
Quest" have not been applied (like "text-based" and direct movement by keyboard).

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Game analysis

Figure 15: Dungeon Master

Utima Online
"Ultima Online" (Figure 16), a Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG), was
released by Origin System Inc. for Windows in 1997. According to its Publisher, Electronic Arts, it
has been the first MMORPG to reach the 100,000 subscriber base and at the same time to be the
longest running MMORPG. Almost all elements of "Dungeon Master" have also been applied to
"Ultima Online".

Figure 16: Ultima Online

Mass Effect 2
"Mass Effect 2" (Figure 17), a mixture of rpg and first-person shooter, was released by Electronic
Arts Inc. for Windows in 2010. Like its predecessor, "Mass Effect", it was praised by the
specialized press, among others, for its outstanding story and character development [Br@10]. In

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Game analysis

contrast to "Ultima Online", "combine items correctly" was no longer a game goal, and it did not
contain an inventory.

Figure 17: Mass Effect 2

Conclusion
Out of the 39 evaluated aspects, 28 are still used (at least partly) in the latest adventure/rpg
evaluated (“Mass effect 2”), whereas just 11 are not used anymore in any form. This is true for 13
out of the 14 patterns, and for 13 of the 19 framework elements. Out of those 28 aspects that are
still applied in current adventures/rpgs, 17 have been used in all evaluated games and therefore may
be considered inherent to the genre adventure/rpg. One example of such elements is the pattern
"inaccessible areas", which describes the phenomena that certain parts of a game world are not
accessible to the player at all times. But as it may be said that one element of adventure games/rpgs
is discovering, it would probably be boring to be able to access all areas of a game world from the
beginning. Another example for such a game element is the pattern "enemies". The games of the
genre adventure/rpg are usually very much story-based and important aspects to make stories
interesting are tension and conflicts, and a good way to include those in a story is to introduce
enemies. Even though, however, it probably would be possible to create tension and conflict
without enemies (for example a main character confronting his own fears and weaknesses). The
pattern "limited set of actions" has also been applied in all evaluated games. It describes the fact
that actions that can be executed by the player at some point of the game, may not be available at all
parts of a game. This pattern may lead to more planning and strategy and thus to increased tension.
Of course an adventure/rpg game needs a "game world", because a player is supposed to play a role
and immerse into an artificial game world. It could be argued that without "imperfect information"
there would be no dramatic tension (as the ending of the story would be known from the

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Game analysis

beginning). "Immersion" might also be needed for a good game, as players of Adventures/RPGs
should "immerse" into a role. One might think easily however of adventures/rpgs that do not apply
the patterns "find items" or "open rooms", but they are still applied in all evaluated games.
One pattern that seems to have disappeared after "Zork" is "turn-based games", following a trend
already obvious from other genres towards real-time games. The pattern "text-based" which was not
applied after "Zork" seems to be outdated in times of increasing audiovisual abilities.
Except "Dungeon Master" all evaluated games have some kind of background story in the form of
introductory videos/texts or cutscenes, which is maybe also an inherent element of adventures/rpgs.
On the other hand, immersion could probably also be created without introductory videos or
cutscenes just by player induced actions – but still also current games seem to rely on cutscens or
introductory videos.
However, after "Zork", whose narration was very linear (in most cases the puzzles had to be solved
in a specific order), later games contained more non-linear elements, or even the possibility for the
player to influence the games ending (for example “Mass Effect 2”).
The text input of "Zork" was no longer used in the latest games, the interaction switched to
controlling characters by keyboard and mouse. Whereas “Zork” did not use sound effects, all later
games did. “Zork” also did not offer any background music, which all later games (with the
exception of “Dungeon Master”) did.
The text-based interface of “Zork” was replaced, first with two-dimensional, third-person isometric
perspectives, later with three-dimensional third-person perspectives. None of the games showed
complete levels or maps on just one screen, like the early examples of action and strategy games
did. The complete list of game elements and in which adventures/rpgs they have been included can
be found in Appendix C.

3.4 Sports
Sports games are simplified simulations of real life sports, so sub-genres of sports consist of several
traditional sports such as soccer, golf, formula 1 and many more. It can be argued that sports games,
as they almost entirely base on fast reactions and challenges, could instead be considered to be
action games within a sport setting, making the genre sports obsolete. However, as generally sports
is considered being an own genre, this paper does not break with this tradition. What follows is an
analysis of five sports games.

24
Game analysis

Pole Position
“Pole Position” (Figure 18), released by Thunder Mountain in 1986 for MS-DOS, was one of the
first racing games for the PC as well as one of the first sports games for the PC in general. It was
the first PC racing game that offered a "virtual" 3D perspective instead of a top-down perspective,
like it was common at that time. Additionally, it was the first racing game to simulate a racing track
existing in reality.

Figure 18: Pole Position

Indianapolis 500
“Indianapolis 500” (Figure 19) is a racing game released by Electronic Arts Inc. in 1989 for MS
DOS. It was hailed as the first step of differentiating racing games from the arcade realm and into
true simulations [We90]. It was probably the first PC racing game that offered various camera
perspectives to choose from. A lot of the game elements of “Pole Position” have not been applied,
among others "fixed direction", "score", and "time limit". In contrast to “Pole Position”,
“Indianapolis 500” has winning conditions (whereas “Pole Position” could literally not be won) and
background music.

25
Game analysis

Figure 19: Indianapolis 500

Fifa international soccer

“Fifa International Soccer” (Figure 20), released by Electronic Arts Inc. for MS-DOS in 1994, was
the first soccer game to have an official FIFA license. Furthermore, it was probably the first soccer
game that based on an isometric camera perspective, in contrast to the top-down perspective that
was common at that time. All basic elements of “Indianapolis 500” have been applied to “Fifa
International Soccer”.

Figure 20: Fifa International Soccer

Midtown Madness
“Midtown Madness” (Figure 21), released in 1999 by Angel Studios for Windows, is a racing game.
It offers a more or less close to reality mapping of the city of Chicago while basing on an open
world, sandbox-style game play. Thus, it is possibly the first racing game to take place in an "close
to reality" model of an existing city. All basic elements of “Fifa International Soccer” have been
applied to “Midtown Madness”, except the mode of play "qualification".

26
Game analysis

Figure 21: Midtown Madness

Split/Second
“Split/Second” (Figure 22), released by Disney Interactive Studios for Windows in 2010, is an
action racing game that offers a high amount of destruction and stunts. The major changes in terms
of game elements in comparison to “Midtown Madness” were the abstinence of any time limits as
well as the introduction of story telling elements.

Figure 22: Split/Second

Conclusion
Out of the 42 evaluated aspects used in "Pole Position", 28 are still in use in the latest game
evaluated, "Split/Second", while 14 of them are not. This is true for 9 out of the 10 patterns, as well
as for 15 of the 26 framework elements.
There are patterns that have been applied to all the games evaluated, like "maneuvering" (which is
probably necessary in most sports games). Other patterns that may be inherent to sports games are

27
Game analysis

"enemies" as almost all sports are based on competition. Sports games that lack the pattern "real-
time games" could be perceived as strategy games in a sports-based setting more than sports games.
There are however some elements that exist in all five evaluated games (or at least in all of the 4
racers) which may not be necessary for sports games, but have been applied none the less. These
elements include the pattern "laps/rounds" or goals like "finish at first", "finish as fast as possible",
"achieve best round time" and more.
One element that has not been applied to the more current games is "fixed direction". In "Pole
Position", one was just able to drive forwards, but not to reverse or drive backwards. All later games
allowed this. Other, maybe more arcade-racer typical patterns such as "qualification" or "time limit"
(which was very typical for arcade racers) seem to also have vanished after "Pole Position". Except
"Split/Second" the games have no background story at all, but as “Split/Second” shows this might
be subject to change for future sports games. All games share the direct controlling by keyboard
(which may be a way to let the player feel more directly in control). All evaluated games offer
sound feedback, and all games after "Indianapolis 500" offer background music in addition.
The perspective offered by all evaluated games was a three-dimensional one (with the exception of
“Fifa International Soccer”, which offered a 2D, isometric perspective), where of course the levels
of detail and the freedom of movement evolved over time. All of the evaluated games offer a third-
person camera perspective (introduced in "Pole Position"), however more current games let the
player also choose between other perspectives (like a first person perspective).
The complete list of game elements and in which sports games they have been included can be
found in Appendix D.

28
Game analysis

4 Conclusion
It is difficult to compare the development of all of the selected games in a combined fashion, as the
applied patterns and framework elements differ strongly between genres. There can be examined
some trends however, that seem to expand genre-boundaries. One of them is, that both the first
evaluated action game (“Pac-girl”) as well as the first strategy game (“Sokoban”) offer the player
perfect information through the display of a complete level on just one screen. This is something
not discovered in any of the later games.

In the genre action, 54 % of the evaluated aspects are still used in the latest game of that genre. In
the strategy genre, this share is a bit lower (42.5 %). In the genre Adventures/RPG that share
amounts to be 71.8 %, the highest value of all genres. In sports, this share is 66.7 %. Figure 23
provides an overview over this situation.

Share of elements still in use in current games

80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Action Strategy Adventure/RPG Sports

Figure 23: Shares of game elements according to genre

It can therefore be concluded, that in the genres action and strategy, less game elements from the
first games haven been applied to the current examples of those genres than in the genres
adventure/rpg and sports. This may be due to the fact, that from "Pac-Girl" to current first-person
shooters, the game principles changed significantly in the genre action (from avoiding enemies and
collecting items in a very restricted game world to shooting enemies in very open worlds). In

29
Conclusion

contrary, it can be said that the principles and mechanics of the genre adventure/rpg have been very
elaborated and defined from the beginning. The relatively low amount of game elements from the
first strategy games still used in current examples can probably also be explained by the wide range
of different gameplay-types and sub-genres that constitute that genre. The five games analyzed here
belong to the sub-genres puzzle, construction/management games, real-time strategy and life
simulation. These sub-genres have very different inherent goals, ranging from eliminating enemies
(“Dune 2”) to peacefully satisfying the needs of a city population (“Sim City”).
In contrast, four of the five analyzed sports games belong to the same sub-genre (racing games),
which may explain the high amount of reused game elements.
Apparently, game design patterns are in general more likely to be found again in latest games than
framework elements (79.3 % in comparison to 46.5 %). This may partly be due to the already
mentioned fact, that game design patterns are better suitable to describe core game elements than
framework elements, and therefore be less likely to change over time. Therefore, the genres shall
once again be compared, this time just taking into account game design patterns. The share of game
design patterns still applied to the latest games is 73.7 % in action, 70 % in strategy, 92.9 % in
adventure/rpg and 90 % in sports games. It is immediately obvious, that this is roughly the same
distribution as when taking into account all evaluated aspects, only this time all genres have a
higher share of reused elements.
In terms of narration, the genres strategy and adventure/rpgs do not show significant changes, due
to the fact that they naturally always worked with embedded narrations and stories. What is obvious
however, is that in the genres action and sports the first games were arcade-based, which is
probably the reason why they did not include background stories. The later games in this genre
however embed stories and narrations. Therefore the trend could be derived, that most new action
games tend to always include at least some kind of background story. Graphic-wise, a trend can be
seen in so far, as the games in most genres evolved from offering a top-down third-person camera
perspective, where a complete level or map fit into just one screen. The camera perspective seemed
to have evolved in all genres to three-dimensional graphics. Both, the first person and the third-
person perspective seem to be offered in current games. It seems however that the top-down
perspective died out, together with the fit-to-screen principle.

30
Conclusion

4.1 Answering the research question

Summing up, it can be concluded that some patterns and game elements contained in the first PC
games seem to have lost popularity over time, whereas a substantial share of those is still applied to
up-to-date games. Some of these are probably important in so far as they define the genres itself.
Some, however, would most likely not be necessary, but are used anyway as they are well-proven.

4.2 Discussion of results and future research

Even if this research offers some insights into which special elements have disappeared over time
and which have not, and which genres might be especially resistant to changes, there is more
research to be done before jumping to explicit conclusions. One important aspect is to conduct
similar research analyzing a higher number of games, possible restricting oneself to a specific genre
for this purpose. Other possibilities would be to analyze genre-transcending, to include also video
and mobile games, or to look at other game elements than the ones presented here. The approach in
this paper was to take early PC games and find out if elements of those are still in use in current
games. Another approach would be to start from current games, finding out which of its elements
have been used in previous games and possibly finding the origins of those game elements. This
could lead to interesting questions, such as "which was the first game to offer a first-person
perspective" and so forth. Especially interesting would be to not just consider offline games, but
also to include online games, as those often belong to the group of casual games (games targeted to
a mass audience). A hypothesis may be, as casual games have to be very easy to play to attract a
broad audience, that especially casual games base strongly on established principles.
Furthermore, this research covers only very successful games, leaving out free-of-charge and
generally "underground"-games, which may be especially likely to break with old traditions, as the
financial risk is usually smaller than for big game companies.
Hypothesis of such further research might be, that current games are more complex than historical
games, that they are more open (meaning that they leave more possibilities and decisions to the
player, while having less clear game goals), and are more story-based than older games. Also, more
current games may apply more game design patterns than older games.
Resulting out of such research might be the ambition for game designers to purposefully try to
design games that can do without some of the well-proven game elements.

31
Conclusion

5 Appendix
5.1 A: Action game elements
Game Pattern Pac-girl Prince of Doom GTA 3 Battlefield
element Persia Bad
Company 2
Pattern Lives
Pattern Producer/Con
sumer
Pattern Levels
Pattern Score
Pattern High Score
Lists
Pattern Pick-ups
Pattern Collection
Pattern Movement
Pattern Role reversal
Pattern Predictable
consequences
Pattern Enemies
Pattern Obstacles
Pattern Single-player
Games
Pattern Real-time
games
Pattern Perfect
information
Pattern Game world
Pattern Alternative
reality
Pattern Perceived
chance to
succeed
Pattern Avatars
Temporal/ Collect items
Actions

32
Appendix

Temporal/ Death of
Events player
Temporal/ Elimination of
Events enemy
Temporal/ Loosing all
Closures lives
Temporal/ Collect all
End items
Conditions
Holistic/ Nothing to do
Game
instance/
Setup
Holistic/ Nothing to do
Game
instance/
Set-Down
Holistic/ Start Game,
Game select speed
session/
Setup
Holistic/ Nothing to do
Game
session/
Set-Down
Holistic/Play One play
Session/ session=one
Setup game session
(no
save/restore)
Holistic/Play One play
Session/ Set- session=one
Down game session
(no
save/restore)
Structural/ Selectable
Game Time game speed
Narration No narration Story Story Story Story
at all, no
back-
groundstory
User Direct
Interaction movement

33
Appendix

with arrow-
keys
A/V Style Sound Sound
feedback
Music No music Background Background Background Background
music music Music Music
Perspective Top-down, Sidescrollin First- 3rd-person, First-person,
3rd person g, 3rd person person, "real", "real",
simulated, hardware 3D hardware 3D
software 3D
Overview Fit-to-Screen No fit-to- No fit-to- No fit-to- No fit-to-
screen screen screen screen

5.2 B: Strategy game elements

Game Pattern Sokoban Sim City Dune 2 The Sims The Sims 3
element
Pattern Levels
Pattern Movement
Pattern Perfect
information
Pattern Inaccessible
areas
Pattern Avatars
Pattern Score
Pattern High score list
Pattern Reconfigurable
game world
Pattern Single-player
Games
Pattern Real-time
games
Pattern Game world
Pattern Consistent
reality logic
Pattern Obstacles
Pattern Moveable tiles
Pattern Predictable
consequences

34
Appendix

Pattern Save-load
cycles
Pattern Irreversible
actions
Pattern Level selection
Pattern Puzzle solving
Pattern Stimulated
planning
Boundary/ Move elements
Goals to correct
position
Boundary/ Finish with
Subgoals little time
Boundary/ Finish with
Subgoals little movement
Boundary/ Finish with
Subgoals little pushes
Boundary/ Move one
Subgoals object to
predefined
place
Temporal/ All levels
End finished
conditions
Temporal/ All levels
Closures finished
Temporal/ Level finished
Closures/
Subclosures
Holistic/ Nothing to do
Game
instance/
set up
Holistic/ Nothing to do
Game
instance/
set down
Holistic/ Start game,
Game select start
session/ game,select
Setup character,enter
name, select

35
Appendix

time, select
which level to
play.
Holistic/ Nothing to do
Game
session/
set-down
Holistic/ Start or load
Play Game
session/set
up
Holistic/ End or save
Play session/ game
set-down
Narration Very short Small Extensive No narration Introductory
start- and infotext on intro- and video
cutsceness some cutscenes, at without
without scenarios, some points dialogues
dialogues, otherwise user can
linear no influence
narration narration continuation
of story
User Direct Selecting Selecting Selecting Selecting
Interaction movement and and and and
with arrow positioning positioning positioning positioning
keys or with mouse with mouse with mouse with mouse
joystick
A/V Style Sound Sound
feedback
Music No Music Back- Background Background Background
ground music music music
music
Perspective Top-down Top-down Isometric Isometric First-person,
"real",
hardware 3d
Overview Fit-to- No fit-to- No fit-to- No fit-to- No fit-to-
Screen screen screen screen screen

36
Appendix

5.3 C: Adventure/RPG game elements

Game Pattern Zork Kings Quest Dungeon Ultima Mass Effect
element Master Online 2
Pattern Limited set
of actions
Pattern Movement
Pattern Save-load
Cycles
Pattern Inacessible
areas
Pattern Enemies
Pattern Single-
player-
games
Pattern Turn-based
games
Pattern Game world
Pattern Imperfect
information
Pattern Immersion
Pattern Narrative
structures
Pattern Exploration
Pattern Irreversible
actions
Pattern Puzzle
solving
Boundary/ Solve all
Goals puzzles
Boundary/ Find items
Subgoals
Boundary/ Open rooms
Subgoals
Boundary/ Combine
Subgoals items
correctly
Temporal/ High amount
Actions of possible
actions

37
Appendix

Temporal/ All puzzles

End solved
conditions
Temporal/ All puzzles
Closures solved
Temporal/ One puzzle
Closures/ solved
Subclosures
Temporal/ One item
Closures/ taken
Subclosures
Holistic/ Nothing to
Game do
instance/set
up
Holistic/ Nothing to
Game do
instance/set-
down
Holistic/ Nothing to
Game do
session/
Setup
Holistic/ Nothing to
Game do
session/
Set-down
Holistic/ Load
Play savegame
session/set
up
Holistic/ Save
Play session/ savegame
set-down
Structural/ Text based
interface
Structural/ Objects/
Game Items
Elements
Structural/
Game Inventory
Elements

38
Appendix

Structural/ Locations/
Game sites
Elements
Narration Short Introduction No non- Introduction Introduction
introduction, video, gameplay- video, video,
constant constant related textual cutscenes,
description description narration description dialogues,
of events of events of events many non-
and story, and story, and story, linear
dialogues, dialogues, dialogues, narration
mostly linear often non- non-linear elements,
narration, linear narration, no multipe
just one narration, ending endings
ending one ending
User Text input Direct Movement Movement Movement
Interaction movement by clickling by clickling by keyboard,
with arrow on goal, on goal, actions by
keys, actions actions by actions by keyboard
by text input direct mouse direct mouse and
click click moueclicks
A/V Style Sound No sound Sound Sound Sound sound
Music No music Music No Music Music Music
rd- rd- rd-
Perspective Just Text 3 person First-person 3 person 3 person
Isometric 2d Fixed Isometric 2d "Real"
software 3d hardware 3d
images
Overview Not fit-to- Not fit-to- Not fit-to- Not fit-to- Not fit-to-
screen screen screen screen screen

5.4 D: Sports game elements

Game Pattern Pole Indianapolis Fifa Midtown Split/Second
element Position 500 International Madness
Soccer
Pattern Imperfect
information
Pattern Fixed
direction
Pattern Score
Pattern High score list
Pattern Maneuvering
Pattern Predictable

39
Appendix

consequences
Pattern Enemies
Pattern Inaccessible
areas
Pattern Single-
player-games
Pattern Real-time
games
Boundary/ Qualification.
Modes of
Play
Boundary/ Time limit
Modes of
Play
Boundary/ Laps/Rounds
Modes of
Play
Boundary/ Finish at first
Goals
Boundary/ Finish as fast
Goals as possible
Boundary/ Achieve best
Goals round time
Boundary/ Achieve new
Goals high score
Boundary/ Finish within
Goals given time
Boundary/ Get more
Goals point as peers
Boundary/ Finish one
Subgoals round/lap
Boundary/ Outrun
Subgoals
Boundary/ Finish curve
Subgoals without crash
Boundary/ Expand time
Subgoals limit
Temporal/ Switch gears
Actions
Temporal/ Touch enemy

40
Appendix

Events
Temporal/ Touch border
Events
Temporal/ Player
Events destroyed
Temporal/ No closures
Closures
Temporal/ Time finished
End
Conditions
Temporal/ Certain (Just one of (Just one of
End number of the possible the possible
Conditions rounds modes) modes)
finished
Holistic/ Nothing to do
Game
instance/
setup
Holistic/ Nothing to do
Game
instance/set-
down
Holistic/ Nothing to do
Game
Session/
Setup
Holistic/ Nothing to do
Game
session/Set-
down
Holistic/ Nothing to do
Play session/
Setup
Holistic/ Nothing to do
Play
session/Set-
down
Narration No No narration No narration No narration Short
narration introvideo,
short
cutscenes
User Direct Direct Direct Direct Direct

41
Appendix

Interaction movement movement movement movement movement

with with with with with
keyboard keyboard keyboard keyboard keyboard
A/V Style Sound Sound Sound Sound Sound Sound
No music No Music Music Music Music Music
Perspective 3rd 3rd-person 3rd-person 3rd-person 3rd-person
-person,"vi (selectable) isometric 2d (selectable) (selectable)
rtual" "real" "real" "real"
software software 3d hardware 3d hardware 3d
3d, fixed
backgroun
d
Overview Not fit-to- Not fit-to- Not fit-to- Not fit-to- Not fit-to-
screen screen screen screen screen

5.5 E: List of references

Bj@ Staffan Björk, Sus Lundgren, Jussi Holopainen: Game Design
Patterns, http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?
doi=10.1.1.111.96&rep=rep1&type=pdf,Retrieved on 23 July 2010, 2003
Bj04 Staffan Björk, Jussi Holopainen: Patterns in Game Design, Patterns in
Game Design,Charles River Media, Inc.,2004
Br@10 Erik Brudvig: Mass Effect 2 Review,
http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/106/1062898p1.html,Retrieved on 17 July 2010, 2010
Co06 Mia Consalvo, Nathan Dutton: Game analysis: Developing a
methodological toolkit for the qualitative study of games, the international journal of computer
game research,volume 6,issue 1 ,2006
Kr@02 Bernd Kreimeier: The Case For Game Design Patterns,
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4261/the_case_for_game_design_patterns.php,Retrieved
on 23 July 2010, 2002
Li@03 Craig Lindley: Game Taxonomies: A High Level Framework for
Game Analysis and Design,
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2796/game_taxonomies_a_high_level_.php?
page=1,Retrieved on 17 July 2010, 2003
Lu03 Lundgren, S. & Staffan Björk: Game Mechanics: Describing
Computer-Augmented Games in Terms of Interaction, Terms of Interaction. Proceedings of TIDSE
2003,pp. 45-56,2003
Ma07 Steven Malliet: Adapting the Principles of Ludology to the Method of
Video Game Content Analysis, the international journal of computer game research,Volume 7,issue
1 ,2007
PC@ : PC Games, http://www.ea.com/platform/pc-games,Retrieved on 17
July 2010, 2010
Sa04 Katie Slaen, Eric Zimmerman: Rules of Play: Game Design
Fundamentals, ,The MIT Press,2004
Sa06 Kate Salen, Eric Zimmerman: The Game Design Reader: A Rules of

42
Appendix

Play Anthology, ,The MIT Press,2006

Th@05 : The Sims Franchise Celebrates Its Fifth Anniversary and Continues
to Break Records, http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2005/feb/1114806.htm,Retrieved on 17 July
2010, 2005
We90 Barry Werger: Review of Indianapolis 500: The Simulation,
Computer Gaming World,, May,1990

43