Software Requirements Specification

<Smart Game>
Version 1.3 approved

Prepared by Muhammad Usman

Department Of Computer Science

Institute Of Southern Punjab, Multan

Table of Contents

Chapter 1
1.Introduction
1.1 literature/Current System
1.1.1 Information engineering
1.1.2 Basic diagrams
1.1.3Problem within current system
1.2 Comparison table
1.3 Basic Constraints
1.4 Project proposal (including methodology)

Chapter 2
2. Overall description
2.1 Proposed System environment
2.2 Scope
2.3 Functional Requirements
2.4 Use cases
2.5 Activity diagram
2.6 Sequence diagram
2.7 DFD’s
2.8 ERD’s and Mapping
2.9 Schema diagram
2.10 Non-Functional requirements
2.11 Overall constraints

Chapter 3
3.System Features and Requirements
3.1 Hardware requirements
3.2 Software requirements
3.3 System requirements
1.Introduction
1.1 literature/Current System

Among Us, a social deception game that has catapulted itself into success, with about 60
million users playing it each day. Plenty of articles have been written about why it was a
runaway success — the contribution of streamers, the pandemic forcing everyone to stay
in, and the network effect of inviting friends onboard the ship are some of the oft cited
factors.

I think the best version of the game is when you’re on a voice channel (likely Discord)
with friends (defined as: people you know and will continue to play with again.), as this
leads to the highest engagement and the most rewarding interactions. I hence will analyze
the game with this assumption in mind.

Game Objectives

Among Us is an asymmetric game with Crewmates and Impostors.

Crewmates try to launch the spaceship by doing tasks while staying alive. They want to
root out the Impostors and kick them out of the space ship.
Meanwhile, Impostors try to kill all the Crewmates, and/or sabotage the ship. There are
two win conditions for Impostors: successful sabotage on one of the major ship
components, or having the total number of live Crewmates be equal to the total number
of live Impostors.

The Impostors look like the Crewmates, except when they’re caught murdering someone
or jumping into vents (a fast travel mechanic). When someone is murdered, they leave
behind a body. If you come across the body, you can report the murder.

This initiates a discussion phase amongst the surviving members on the ship about
whodunnit — if a majority vote is achieved, the unlucky player is ejected out of the
ships’ exhaust, to float eternally in the silence of dead space.

The game is largely divided into the game phase (where players can control their cute
space suited avatars), and the discussion phase, where players are allowed to
communicate. A common adaptation for the game is using voice chat (Discord) to
converse during the discussion phase instead of the inbuilt text chat, which leads to
plenty of entertaining arguments and accusations.

Challenges and Skill Caps

Among Us has a brilliant solution to the problem of balance in an asymmetric game:

allow players to balance their own games instead!

This removes friction because the game developers have freed themselves from having to
make ceaseless balance tweaks to the game. Players can select from a range of parameters
depending on the group they’re with, as well as the size of the group, ranging from how
many tasks need to be accomplished, to how often an Impostor may kill an enemy.

When in doubt, a room host may click on ‘Set Recommended Settings’ to live by the
default.

Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics

Take this simple mechanic: When a task is completed, the progress bar goes up. The
progress bar is available to all players.

Combine this with the fact that Impostors cannot do tasks — they can only fake doing
them. Suddenly, this creates a dynamic where Crewmates can use this as a mechanism to
‘verify’ and vouch for other Crewmates. Players can improve their knowledge of the
game state as the game progresses (Cyan is NOT an Impostor, but Red Sus! (Is
Suspicious)), and most importantly, communicate and convince other players using this
mechanic as evidence.

Different Tasks in Among Us

As a result, Impostors feel like they’re in a race against time, as other players confirm
each other. Crewmates feel rewarded for paying attention to the task bar, and for sticking
together with other crewmates as they can accomplish their tasks safely. All this from one
mechanic!

The best part is that dynamics can give rise to other dynamics: when impostors realize
that for example, players are observing them, they can instead run elsewhere or pretend to
be doing a multi-part task. In the discussion phase, lying and pretending can happen on
the fly for the impostor.

These mechanic leads to player archetypes such as the “Detective” arising. Detectives
take it upon themselves to interrogate every other player for their alibis — ranging from
questions about what task the person was doing, to what were the exact details on the
task. Be prepared for a real grilling — and sometimes, even as a Crewmate, you could
easily be ejected for not being able to answer in time.

However, because every strategy is rewardable-punishable, it makes accurate reads very

rewarding — nothing feels better than ejecting an Impostor because you made a good call
on where they were (and weren’t!), despite their claims.

Multiple Modes of Pleasure

It can feel just as engaging to watch your favorite streamer play this game with their
friends, and one can be just as invested floating around as a ghost and watching the
players discuss. There’s a form of dramatic irony created when a dead player gets to
watch the Impostor lie through their teeth about where they were, which can be
incredibly satisfying (like watching Romeo and Juliet on stage, and Juliet asleep, while
Romeo… well…).

Among Us allows varying modes of experience — one may spectate it as a ghost, stream
it and get audience input, or play it and experience it directly. I suppose one may also
experience it by writing an article on its game design, but I digress.