April 23, 2025

Games Studies : Exercise 1

GAMES STUDIES : EXERCISE 1

Sky:Children of the light

"Warm souls will eventually meet"

<<Sky: Children of the Light>>: A spiritual journey that never fades

✨ Why do I always want to return to the world of <<Sky: Children of the Light>>?

I chose my favorite game. Even though I haven't played <<Sky: Children of the Light>> for a while, I still think of it from time to time - the sky covered by the gentle morning light, the melodious piano music, and the strangers who passed by.

This unique social adventure game developed by "Thatgamecompany" was first released in 2019. As the latest masterpiece from the development team of Journey, this game continues its iconic art style and emotional narrative while creating a new multiplayer interactive experience.

It is not just a game, it is more like a journey to heal the soul.

Basic gameplay:

1.Free exploration & collection of wings of light

Fly and run: long press the jump button to take off, slide the screen to adjust the direction, touch the clouds or birds to restore energy.

Wings of light: scattered all over the map, collect them to increase the flight energy limit and unlock farther exploration areas.

Memories of ancestors: find ancestors with blue light, follow their memories to unlock new actions (such as bowing, dancing).

2.Social interaction ：

Light up candles to make friends: Approach strangers and light them with candles to become temporary friends. Use candles to add friends and unlock functions such as chatting and holding hand

Cooperative puzzle solving: Some mechanisms require 2 to 8 people to work together (such as the "Eight-person Gate"), and players are encouraged to help each other.

Musical instrument playing: You can play piano, harp and other instruments, and play with other players or hold small concerts.

2.Season & Mission System

Daily Mission: Complete designated goals (such as "collect 30 candlelights" and "high five with friends") to obtain seasonal candles and redeem limited costumes.

Seasonal Events: Update theme seasons every 2-3 months (such as "Little Prince Season" and "Performance Season") to unlock new maps, stories, and costumes.

4. Sacrifice & Rebirth (Eye of Eden)

Eye of the Storm Challenge: Enter the final map "Eden", escort the Wings of Light in the redstone rain, and sacrifice to the stone statue.

Rebirth: After the sacrifice, enter the Starry Sky Road and obtain the "Red Candle" (Sublimation Candle), which is used to unlock advanced friend trees or rare items.

⏳ Daily/Limited Time Gameplay :

1. Daily Mode

Daily Mission (4) → Reward Season Candles
Large Candle Pile on Map (Randomly Refreshed) → Quickly Collect Candlelight

2. Limited Events

Festival Maps: such as Halloween's "Ghost Party", open for a limited time and with exclusive costumes.
Linked Levels: such as "Little Prince Rose Star Tracks", require completing the plot or solving puzzles.

🎁 Rewards and Growth

Candles: synthesized by collecting candlelight, used to redeem costumes and unlock friend interactions.
Hearts: obtained by friends giving each other, exchanged for rare items.
Season Pass: paid to unlock more seasonal rewards (such as graduation gifts).

🌅 The moment that made me fall in love with <<Sky: Children of the Light>>

1. Beautiful visuals and music

From the first rays of the morning sun on the Morning Island to the desolation of the dusk land, every scene is like a dynamic oil painting.
The character design is pure and smart, and the cloak, hairstyle, and movements are all full of poetry.
The original soundtrack was composed by the composer of "Journey", and the ethereal melody perfectly fits the scene atmosphere.
The instrument system has a high degree of freedom, and players can restore classic songs or improvise.

2. Warm social experience

In Sky: Children of the Light, players cannot chat directly by typing, but establish connections through actions, expressions and "candles". This implicit way of interaction makes the encounter pure and precious.
Use "light up - give candle - unlock action" to replace text input and eliminate language barriers.
57 emotional actions (hug/dance/lie down) to achieve precise expression.
The process from cautious exploration to tacit interaction with strangers is full of surprises."Carry on back" and "ride on neck" and other physical interactions naturally enhance intimacy.

3. The fun of exploration and collection

Find the wings of light, unlock new expressions, collect musical instruments... Every exploration is full of surprises.
Seasonal events (such as the Little Prince linkage) bring unique plots and costumes to keep the game fresh.

4.Free pace

You can complete the tasks in 20 minutes a day, or explore immersively for hours.There is no "miss it and lose it forever" design (the replica ancestors return regularly).

Here, you are not "playing games", but experiencing a journey of the soul.

⚡ What I think can be improved

<<Sky: Children of the Light>> is a warm and healing social adventure game, but as a long-term player, I think there are still areas that can be optimized to improve the overall experience:

1. Repetitive gameplay

Daily tasks and running maps are easy to become monotonous, especially for old players, and may lack challenges

2. Server issues

Occasionally, there will be cross-connection (friends suddenly disappear) or delays, which affect the online experience.

3.The costume system can be more friendly

It is too hard to get candles: If you want to exchange your favorite costumes, you need to run around the map repeatedly for a long time.
Some costumes are not cost-effective: Some capes/hairstyles are too expensive, but the special effects are not enough.

4.The guidance for novices is not perfect

It is easy for new players to get lost:The game does not have clear guidance, and new players may get stuck in a certain map and be at a loss.

5.Improvement suggestions

Big difference in mobile & Switch/PC operation: The flying experience of mobile players is not as smooth as that of controller/keyboard and mouse players.
Some activities are limited to platforms: For example, Switch exclusive gift packs make it impossible for players on other platforms to obtain them.

💡 Improvement suggestions:

1. Optimize repeated gameplay: increase fun and challenge

✅ Dynamic task system

Daily tasks are randomized to avoid repeating the same content every day (e.g., today's task may be "collecting starlight fragments", and tomorrow it becomes "helping a stranger").
Add "weekly challenges" for old players (e.g., limited-time racing flight, crossing the eye of the storm without injury).

✅ Improved map running mechanism

Added "candlelight critical strike" mechanism: randomly trigger double candlelight rewards when running, enhancing the sense of surprise.
"Candlelight Harvest Day" is open on weekends, and the candlelight output of specific maps is increased by 30%.

✅ Seasonal gameplay innovation

Add 1-2 new gameplays to each season (e.g., "surfing racing" in summer, "ice and snow maze" in winter).
Seasonal tasks add plot branches, allowing players to choose different routes.

2. Server stability optimization

✅ Network optimization

Added "server switching" function to allow players to manually select low-latency nodes
Optimize the friend synchronization mechanism to avoid the problem of "friends suddenly disappearing"

✅ Disconnection compensation

Automatically compensate a small amount of candles or hearts after disconnecting due to server problems.
Add breakpoint resume function in key tasks (such as sacrifice, seasonal tasks).

3. Improvement of clothing system: more friendly and fairer

✅ Optimization of candle acquisition

Improve the efficiency of running maps: shorten the candlelight refresh time, or add the "automatic collection" function (such as carrying elves to help collect).
Add "candlelight task": complete specific challenges (such as playing a complete song) to get candles directly.

✅ Cost-effectiveness adjustment

Add dynamic special effects to high-priced costumes (such as graduation gifts, seasonal limited editions) (such as: cloaks sprinkle starlight with the flight trajectory).
Regularly open the "try-on" function to let players experience it before deciding to redeem it.

✅ Re-engraving and guaranteed mechanism

Add "re-engraving calendar" to announce the return costumes in advance to reduce player anxiety.
For rare costumes that have not been obtained for a long time, a "guaranteed exchange" mechanism is set up.

4. New player guidance optimization: clearer and more friendly

✅ Intelligent guidance system

When a new player enters the map, the "light butterfly" is automatically triggered to guide the key locations.
If the player stays in a certain area for too long, the "help wizard" is triggered to provide prompts.

✅ Social mutual assistance mechanism

Match "guided old players" with new players, and both parties can get rewards (such as exclusive badges).
Add a "new player channel" to facilitate new players to ask questions and communicate.

5. Cross-platform experience improvement

✅ Operation optimization

Add "flight assistance" mode for mobile phones (such as automatic adjustment of flight altitude).
Support external controllers to improve the mobile operation experience.

✅ Platform exclusive content adjustment

Switch exclusive gift packs are changed to "limited-time exclusive" and will be open for exchange on all platforms later.
Cross-platform players can share some costumes (such as basic cloaks and musical instruments).

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