WEEK 9 Games and Art

Assessment Task

Member Names 1 Andamon, Jerald T. Score:

(LN, FN MI.): 2 Bernabe, Pamela
3 De Jesus, Michael Ivan A.
4 Derla, Julius A.
In Alphabetical 5 Ferreras, Vince Austin R.
Order 6 Naparan Jr., Cecilio M. Date: 10/19/2021
7 Osea, Yan Wendell E.
8 Ramirez, Blesselle D.
9 Sabana, Joe Lawrence M.
10 Tapas, John Ren D.
Section: 2CS-A Instructor: Prof. Janus Raymond C. Tan Sem./A.Y. 1st/21-22

INSTRUCTION:

Research for an infamous Mobile or PC game and analyze the game by following the Six Layers of Art by McCloud.
(Idea/ Purpose, Form, Idiom, Structure, Craft, and Surface). Make it sure that the selected game should all show the
Six Layers of Art. Include sample screenshots or video clip links that will justify every layer of Art. Consider the given
table below for the format:

GAME TITLE: Ori and the Blind Forest

GAME OVERVIEW: Ori and the Blind Forest is a platform-adventure video game developed by Moon
Studios and published by Microsoft Studios. In this game, players are prompt to
control Ori, a small white guardian spirit, and Sein, the "light and eye" of the
Forest's Spirit Tree. Players have to move between platforms and solve given
puzzles. This game has a save system called "Soul Links", wherein players can
save their progress with limited resources and an upgrade system that gives the
players ability to strengthen Ori's skills.

Ori is a small forest spirit who was lost from the Spirit Tree during a storm and
forgot who he was. Players are tasked to bring Ori back to his home and save the
forest from dying. Players gain more abilities over time and be able to spend
experience points on three different skill trees.

YEAR RELEASED: 2015

PLATFORM: PC (Microsoft Windows), Console (Nintendo Switch & Xbox One)
LAYERS OF ART
Ori and the Blind Forest tells the tale of a young orphan destined for heroics
through a visually stunning Action-Platformer crafted by Moon Studios for Xbox
and PC. Featuring hand-painted artwork, meticulously animated character
performance, and a beautifully orchestrated score, Ori and the Blind Forest
explores a deeply emotional story about love and sacrifice, and the hope that
IDEA/ PURPOSE exists in us all.

The message of the story, teaches players that life and death are inseparable and
inevitable. We see at the start of the game that Naru, the adoptive mother of Ori,
lived together in a forest for many seasons, until Naru dies after a powerful
storm that caused food shortage and nearly extinction, making Ori an orphan
again – players experienced a heartbreaking at that moment. And the backstory
of why Kuro the owl despises the light – is because she experienced the very
painful insufferable moment of her life, the death of her babies. The story evokes
the sadness about death in players, but also make them feel acceptance when
characters have passed on.

Death isn’t something we can really escape from. All of us humans, even animals
and other living things will witness death at some point. And we have to gather
the will and strength to keep on living. Ori and the Blind Forest teaches
acceptance and courage to players to keep on going and continue the story.
When lead artists Max Degen and Johannes Figlhuber began work on Ori and the
Blind Forest, they were tasked with bringing to life a world that simply didn’t
yet exist. “In the beginning, we had just very rough block-outs – you had your
character and you could run around, but the game itself was just black-and-white
silhouettes”, Figlhuber recalled. “We had to find something to bring all of this light
to life, and to create something with some story to it.”

From early on, the team was inspired by classic hand-drawn animated movies,
including “Princess Mononoke”, the classic Studio Ghibli film. “I just love the world
they created, and this depth”, said Figlhuber. “The prince is an outsider in this
world, and he’s not really wanted there – we kind of wanted to get this feeling for
Ori. We want you to feel like a visitor in our strange and beautiful world.” Indeed,
as the titular Ori, the player can’t help but feel diminutive in the Blind Forest,
and this was a very pointed choice by the developers for a number of reasons.
“We wanted to player to feel very small in this world – we wanted Ori to be very
small on the screen”, said Degen. “This was a very conscious decision, both for
gameplay reasons – you can see further ahead, and have more time to react to
what’s coming toward you – and to show the insignificance of the character, who’s
very small in this huge and intimidating world.”

Naru and Ori:

Naru’s Death:

Kuro and her babies:

 Kuro’s Babies Death:

Links:
Naru’s Death – Ori and the Blind Forest Gameplay
Kuro’s Babies Death – Ori and the Blind Forest Gameplay

Ori and the Blind Forest is a 2D Metroid Vania; a platform game with an
emphasis on exploration, collecting items and upgrades, and backtracking to
previously inaccessible areas. And it is an action platformer developed Moon
studios for Xbox and PC that recounts the story of young orphan destined for
heroism.
FORM
The game takes considerable reading abilities, and the puzzles and platforming
are difficult, yet despite the sad plot, it has only mild cartoon violence, making it
suitable for children as young as eight years old.

The system requirements for the game Ori and the Blind Forest are 4GB ram,
high capacity of graphics card for better viewing, and approximately Core I5
second generation for the intel processor.

Links:
https://youtu.be/cklw-Yu3moE
https://youtu.be/FFs5xFU8Rxc

The idiom or game genre of Ori and the Blind Forest is action-adventure,
platform game, and fighting game (subgenre of action game). Knowing that this
game is a story-driven game, its genres are neither defined by the game story
nor the setting, these genres are defined by how players interact with the game.

Ori and the Blind Forest is an action-adventure type of game, combining the core
IDIOM elements from action game and adventure game. It is action-adventure, as
players interacts with the game to overcome obstacles by using Ori’s basic skills
such as running, climbing, jumping from platform to platform and using various
skills to combat enemies; and solving puzzles to progress in game. The game is
a story-driven game, which players explores the levels to discover and unveil
the story over time – which makes it an adventure game.
It is an action game, too, as players controls Ori to gather collectibles such as
Energy Cell and Life Cell, and Keystone to open Spirit Gates to progress in game;
to avoid dangers such as thorns and spikes placed in the map; to battle with
enemies and the main antagonist Kuro using Ori’s skills that are learned and
obtained over time – this shows the subgenre of action game, fighting game.

It is also a platform game, another subgenre of action game. It is clearly

identified by how player interacts with the game, by moving from platform to
platform using Ori’s basic abilities such as running, jumping, and climbing to
navigate the map to complete his task in saving his home – fighting different
enemies in different levels to achieve his goal – action game.

Fighting with creatures (Action/Fighting game):

Taking damage from thorns (Action-adventure):

Ori climbing (Action-adventure/Platform game):

 Ori jumping (Adventure/Platform game):

Links:
Exploring new places in the environment – Platform Game
Fighting with creatures in Ori and the Blind Forest – Fighting Game
Solving Puzzles in Ori and the Blind Forest – Action-Adventure Game
Battling with Boss – Action Game and Fighting Game

To identify the structure of a game one must analyze the "core mechanics" of a
game (where the mechanics revolves around). In Ori and the Blind Forest, the
core of the game is the game itself being "story driven", wherein the player
needs to progress through the story to get to the goal. To discuss this easily, we
will cut the story into arcs (sub goals of the game):
STRUCTURE
- The Beginning:
The game starts by being introduced to a tree the emanates light, then a storm
comes coincidentally blew away a leaf that also emanates the same light of the
tree. It continuously flows with the air until it landed next to a mysterious
creature named “Naru”. After landing, the leaf turned into a Spirit (a race that
inhabits within the Spirit Tree) which is the main character of the game. Then,
Naru adopted Ori and takes care of the main character.

- The Decay:
The decay started to happen after the mysterious explosion of light from the
Spirit Tree. After hiding in the cave at the end of explosion, Ori came out of the
cave with no reason of staying in it. Something bad happen strayed away in the
forest after losing all hopes then dying in (with some distance) front of the spirit
tree. After being revived by the Spirit Tree (and some wandering), Ori found the
eye of the Spirit Tree named Sein (There are two forms of Sein the light that’s
in the Spirit Tree and the Eye that is completely separate from the light).
After that, Sein explained who Ori is and his connection to the Spirit Tree after
getting to the front Spirit Tree itself.

- The start of the Journey:

After knowing that Ori is the last of his kind, specifically being the Guardian
Spirit of the Spirit Tree itself, Ori is set out to complete the mission assigned to
him by Sein. Sein (Eye) comes and guided Ori, which is to bring the 3 elements
(Water, Wind and Warmth) back to their proper state after being disrupted by
the loss of Sein (Light) after being kidnapped by Kuro which is also why the
spirits wandered and died after searching Sein (Light) for years.

- The revival of waters:

Ori is now set out to complete the mission and restore the waters first at the
tree of Ginso and get into the tree Ori need the key that Gumo (explanation
below why he’s called Gumo) stole it from its place. After chasing and taking the
key back from Gumo, Ori entered the tree and make his/her way to the top of
the tree where the heart is located, corrupted, and decayed. Ori need to get rid
of the corruption that surrounds the heart. After cleansing and getting out from
the tree, Ori met the main culprit of the problem named “Kuro” (a huge owl). She
hated the light that the spirits emanated and tried to get rid of them in her sight.
And so, that is what Kuro tried to do after meeting Ori. Luckily, Ori is saved by
Gumo after falling from the tree.
 - The restoration of the wind:
In order to get to the Gumon Mountains and restore the wind, Ori must go
through the Misty Forest and restore the light of Shrouded Lantern in order to
illuminate the path and not get lost to the everchanging forest. After getting
through the Misty Forest and finding the Seal of Gumon, Ori entered the Gumon
Mountains to restore the winds to their proper state. After Ori restores the wind
from their proper state, Ori found Kuro's nest with one egg left. Now, both Ori
and Sein knows why Kuro did something grievous to the spirit tree and to the
forest of Nibel itself. Ori is now getting out from the Kuro's nest where he
encountered Kuro and tried to give him a chase.

- The Calming of Mount Horu:

After escaping the claws of Kuro Ori set out to restore the last element, which
is located in Mount Horu, after getting the sunstone from its place, Ori entered
the mount Horu tried to calm it. After succeeding with the task, the heart of
mount Horu emanated the light which attracted Kuro and now started the hunt
(which started the spread of fire into the forest of Nibel). Ori, after getting caught
by Kuro who tried to kill him, is shielded and protected by now revived Naru.
Kuro, seeing this, get reminded of her child and now understands the duty of Ori
and what Spirit means to the forest of Nibel.

- The Restoration of Spirit Tree and Forest of Nibel:

Realizing the duty of Spirit Tree and Spirits to the forest of Nibel, Kuro set out
to get Sein (Light) back to the Spirit Tree. Unfortunately, Kuro is destroyed/died
by the sudden burst of light/power that the Spirit Tree emitted to save the forest
Despite of that, with the now restored Spirit Tree, it brought back life to the
Forest of Nibel and to its inhabitants, including Kuro's child and the spirits.

- Characters:
• Ori (Main Character)
• Sein
• Naru
• Gumo (unnamed so he is called Gumo because it is his race)
• Nibel (Narrator)

Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh6gBjfXKxw

The Ori and the Blind Forest game is a platform-adventure game in a single-player
mode. This game it has lots of review because of nice controls and concept of the
gameplay, very fantastic art and environmental design, also the musical score of this
game and of course the story of the series of Ori which is the Blind Forest.

CRAFT By looking at this game and discussing the part of art the “craft” after looking at the
Ori and the Blind Forest Trailer video it shows some part of the story by watching
the cutscene you will feel while playing the game and the drama of it and especially
the gameplay it shows some of its abilities and interactions to environment and you
will know what you need to accomplish. Right after you start the game you will see
the first cutscene with narrator’s subtitle of how know your goal or achievements to
finish the game and also special part is you’ll learn the story. Then after the cutscene
you can explore freely the world no such heavy rules that you can’t go back or similar
to other online games the only rules are to accomplish your goal and enjoy the game.
And it has instructions and tutorials in the beginning while you encounter things it
will helps players to understand the game environment without stressing them and
after understanding them you will find it easy to accomplish your goal and enjoy the
game.
 Links:
https://youtu.be/cklw-Yu3moE
https://youtu.be/JA5PVEWbF2k

The Ori and the Blind Forest is one of the best games in terms of story and
graphics. Let’s discuss the surface of the game, on how the game designers make
the technical graphics of the game. First, the making of Ori (Main Character). The
concept for Ori are:

SURFACE - Glowing Texture – The purpose of this is to there no lights will hit to Ori
coming from the background of the game.
- Silhouette and pure black and white - due to high detailed background
there is the game, the pure white silhouette helps him read really clearly
all the time.
- Spring jointed legs or tail - they give him a tail to show the direction of
travel when Ori is moving.

For rendering the character, they used Orthographic camera from side to trick
the user that they are not looking at a 3d asset. They rendering also without
lighting to see the clearly the movement of the character. Also, they rendering
with Motion Blur to add effect in the movement of the character.
In game, the game designers used Baked Effects to produce a high-quality
texture of the game. They also used Atlases to reduce overall dimensions. Also,
metadata that can be used to move character controller like eye, feet, hands,
and etc.

In terms of music and audio, there are 32 original sound tracks in the game. The
audio of the game is clear and accurate. For example, the sound of jumping,
fighting, and etc. The background music is also depending on the scene.

Orthographic

No Lighting

Motion Blur

Atlases

Animation Process:
https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1021791/Animation-Bootcamp-The-
Animation-Process

Menu Music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76qRF5-qvZM
Game Play (focus on audio of the game):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh6gBjfXKxw