Justin Alvear

The game that I chose to analyze during the creation of “The Four Worlds” was Bethesda Game Studio’s Fallout 4. Fallout 4 is regarded as one of the best overall video game experiences in the past decade because of its world depth, story, combat and its expansive looting and crafting/creation system. When it comes to action role-playing games, there aren’t many other developers that could do as good of a job while also expanding the overall basis of the gameplay. Bethesda set out to create a game that allowed players to experience a unique post-apocalyptic retro-future setting with the ability to freely roam the world and have a different experience every time they played. Fallout 4 is a deeply detailed and massive game world with many elements, so I want to focus on a few key points that inspired me most, which were the intricate systems and a few gameplay elements that existed in the game. More specifically the loot system, crafting system, player movement, and strategical elements that made the experience even more immersive and inspired me in the design of “The four Worlds.” 

 

The looting, crafting, and creation system in Fallout 4 heavily influenced “The Four Worlds”. In Fallout 4 there are hundreds of objects to loot and various options for crafting or building. Each object looted becomes an asset in some way, but there is a limit to how much loot a player can carry at one time as all objects hold a given weight and could then slow you down. Thus this encourages players to make use of their inventory by either combining objects to craft new weapons, armor, food and raw materials which all aid in upgrading your character and story progression. The influence is evident in “The Four Worlds” resource gathering (loot) and crafting system that works very similarly but at a drawn downscale. In my game, players need to find resources in order to create spells, potions, and weaponry that will allow the player to progress and deal with whatever obstacles they face. For example, in Fallout 4 there is a consumable called “Vegetable soup”  that a player can craft which gives them “Radiation Resistance.” Which is extremely valuable because radiation sickness is a huge handicap to the player’s health. In order for this to be crafted, the player would first need to have gathered 1 carrot, 1 tato, 1 dirty water resource and have already built the cooking station, which in itself requires 39 different resources in order to craft. This compares to the “Fire resistant potion” in “The four Worlds”, which to craft player needs to obtain 4 water, 2 fire flower, and 1 gold plus. in my game which is a valuable asset that aids the player when facing enemies of the fire variant. What makes the looting and crafting concept so much more important is that it requires players to explore the world, and that was something I wanted in my game. 

 

This leads to elements from Fallout 4 that inspired “The Four Worlds”, which is was player movement and world design. As mentioned earlier, players in Fallout 4 are free to roam the explorable 3.82 miles (scaled) map which has varied terrains, distinct design, and unique enemies. Of course, since “The Four Worlds” isn’t a video game we weren’t able to make such a large scale space, but the inspiration shows in the design. First, our game board is unique in it's 3-dimensional pyramid design with different worlds on each side of the pyramid. This design drew inspiration from the various terrains in Fallout. Secondly, like Fallout 4, each one of these worlds has resources and enemies that are unique to that location, encouraging players to continuously explore the board. Lastly, player movement in “The Four worlds” is unique in that players can move up, down, forwards and backward because I felt that Bethesda’s choice to give players freedom in their ability to travel led to a more immersive and unique experience.

 

Having strategy is heavily encouraged in Fallout 4, but not necessarily required. I say this because since players are given so much freedom, they inherit the choice to progress throughout the game without a strategy, which from personal experience makes the game more difficult and random in some ways. But when players choose to implement strategy then it makes the experience smoothing, more immersive, and less challenging in the sense that you are most likely prepared for any unexpected encounters. For example,  one strategy that I implemented was taking advantage of the in-game trading system so that I could earn caps (Fallout 4 medium of exchange) for loot that I had recovered. I chose this strategy because I noticed the vast amount of loot that existed through the game and I realized that even though some of the objects I looted weren’t exactly useful to me, I could still sell it and slowly but surely earn myself caps that I could eventually use to buy weapons, armor, or other resources. Since Fallout 4 is such a deeply complicated game there are many different ways to strategize a path to whatever goal you have. 

 

Fallout 4 has many more elements such as a unique combat system, story-altering player decisions, resource creation through farming, structure creation, a character progression system that unlock abilities and much more. Fallout 4 is detailed and thought out in gameplay elements and its various systems, which allow it to be a game in which the player's choices matter. Albeit this can be overwhelming to players who are used to instant gratification and games that practically play themselves. Playing Fallout 4 can be a wonderful experience if you really appreciate all it has to offer, if not it can just seem like a vast wasteland with no direction other than quest. Overall, my experience with Fallout 4 made me appreciate the game development process even more than I already did while also giving me a inspiration and a special experience that I will not forget anytime soon.