Games Studies : Exercise 2: Non-digital to digital - Evolution and remediating this game

GAMES STUDIES : EXERCISE 2

 Non-digital to digital - Evolution and remediating this game

Werewolf 

The game I chose is Werewolf, which is a social reasoning game in which players are assigned different roles. The game is divided into two stages: "day" and "night". At night, specific characters can perform secret actions; during the day, the werewolf is found through discussion, reasoning and voting.

Its prototype was the "Killer Game" invented by Dmitriy Davydov from the Department of Psychology at Moscow University in the late 1980s. In 2001, a French game company added the element of wolves to the "Killer Game" and released the board game "The Werewolves of Miller’s Hollow", after which numerous new characters were continuously introduced. In 2012, the game entered the Chinese market and was named "Werewolves". 

Gameplay：

• Number of players and role allocation: Generally, 6 to 18 players participate, and players will be randomly assigned identities, mainly divided into the werewolf camp, the good camp (including civilians and clergy), and some gameplays also have third-party camps. Under different number configurations, the number of each identity is arranged differently. For example, a 6-player game may have 2 civilians, 1 prophet, 1 guard, and 2 werewolves.
• Game process: Take the regular gameplay of a 12-player game as an example, starting from night. At night, werewolves can open their eyes and hunt a player together; at the same time, some clergy such as prophets can check the identity of players, witches can use medicine, and guards can protect players. During the day, all surviving players speak in order, exchange night information, and infer the identity of werewolves. After speaking, they will hold an exile referendum. The one with the most votes will be eliminated and leave a will. Then enter the next night, and repeat this cycle until one camp reaches the victory condition.

Game Characters and Skills：

Werewolf Camp

• Werewolf: Can attack one player every night, can kill with an empty knife or kill himself, and needs to disguise and mix in the good camp during the day.
• White Wolf King: Can take one player away when he reveals his identity during the day.
• Wolf King: Can shoot and take one player away when he dies (including revealing his identity).
• Hidden Wolf: Cannot expose himself, always a good person after the prophet's check, does not participate in the werewolf attack at night, can obtain the attack skill after all the wolf companions are eliminated.
• Good Camp - Civilians: No special skills, rely on analyzing other people's speeches and voting to find the werewolf.

Good Camp - Clergy

• Prophet: Can check the identity of one surviving player every night, and can choose to publish the inspection results.
• Witch: Has a bottle of antidote to save the player attacked by the werewolf that night, and a bottle of poison to poison the player. Only one bottle of medicine can be used every night, and cannot save herself.
• Hunter: When being eliminated by werewolves or voted out, you can designate a surviving player to hunt, but you cannot use skills when being eliminated by witch poison.
• Guard: You can choose to guard yourself or another player every night, and you cannot guard the same person for two consecutive nights.

Game Goal

• Werewolf Camp: Through night attacks and misleading votes during the day, reduce the number of good camps (civilians or clergy) and achieve the conditions of "slaughtering the side" (eliminating all civilians or all clergy) or "slaughtering the city" (killing all good people).
• Good Camp: Use reasoning, speaking and voting to find and eliminate all werewolves.

Non-digital:

Players sit offline and obtain roles through physical identity cards. Relying on face-to-face language communication and raising hands to vote, they control the order of speaking and the rhythm of the game by themselves, and the process is all manually advanced.

Digital:

Players match online and the system assigns roles. Communicate through voice or text and vote through interface operation. The system automatically controls the speaking time and the rhythm of the day and night, and adds special effects to enhance the sense of immersion.

Differences and similarities in game dimensions ( Non-digital & digital )

Similarities:

• The character settings and gameplay structure are basically the same.
• Both emphasize language communication, psychological games and logical reasoning.
• Both adopt the round mechanism of "night action + daytime discussion".

Differences

Social experience: 

• Non-digital games can be experienced face-to-face to help with tone and expression, making social interactions more direct and real, which enhances the fun and sense of immersion in the game. 
• Although digital games can communicate by voice, they lack direct information such as facial expressions, and social interactions are slightly virtual. However, they break through geographical restrictions and can form teams with players from different regions.

Game convenience: 

• Non-digital games require players to be summoned and venues to be determined, making organization difficult. 
• Digital games can be started at any time by opening the APP, and there are functions such as novice guidance and rule prompts, which are more friendly to new players and can automatically record the game process for easy review.

Advantages and disadvantages of three-dimensionalization

Advantages

• Improved immersion: three-dimensional scenes can build realistic villages, castles and other environments. Players enter with 3D virtual images, and with light, shadow and sound effects, the sense of substitution is enhanced. For example, a werewolf moves at night in a gloomy castle, which is more exciting than a two-dimensional plane display.
• Enhanced interactivity: players can observe the scene 360 ​​degrees and interact with the environment and other characters through gestures, actions and other interactive methods. For example, approaching other characters can trigger special voice communication, which increases the fun and strategy of the game.

Disadvantages

• High hardware requirements: running three-dimensional games greatly increases the performance requirements of the device. Ordinary mobile phones and computers may experience freezes and frame drops, affecting the experience. The two-dimensional version is more adaptable.
• Increased difficulty of operation: three-dimensional operations involve perspective switching, movement, etc., which are more complicated than two-dimensional clicks. Novice players take longer to get started, which may reduce their enthusiasm for the game.

Overall

The transformation of Werewolf from non - digital to digital has made the gameplay more standardized, the process more efficient, and has also expanded the audience. While the further 3D virtual experience brings a sense of immersion, it is not suitable for all players. Between convenience and immersion, Werewolf in different dimensions has its own advantages.