CIS 587 Computer Game Design and Implementation Harvey Roy Divinagracia ASSIGNMENT 1 09 25 2001 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Basic Information 2 Game Summary 3 Game Review 4 Summary 6 BASIC INFORMATION GAME TITLE RahJongg SE Special Edition The Curse of Ra COMPANY AND AUTHOR Written and Designed by P Mussler Produced by E Immambocus UsedStar Inc Distributed by eGames Inc 2000 Cabot Blvd Suite 110 Langhorne PA 19047 1 216 750 6606 TYPE OF GAME Puzzle type game having a theme on ancient Egyptian beliefs PRICE 9 99 bundled together with other games Solitaire Clicks Game of Four Winds distributed by eGames Inc as one shrink wrapped CD entitled Galaxy of Mahjongg MINIMUM STATED HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS As shown in the CD cover Pentium 120MHz PC Win 95 98 16Mb RAM SVGA VideoCard Sound Card 16 bit color display DirectX 5 or higher compatible video card and drivers and CD ROM drive ACTUAL HARDWARE REQUIRED Installed Played Evaluated in a PII 350 MHz PC with Windows98SE OS 8X CD ROM drive 128 Mb RAM Trident 976 Video Card with 4Mb Memory 17 Monitor PS 2 compatible mouse and keyboard GAME SUMMARY QUICK OVERVIEW There are two game options under RahJongg SE Special Edition that is available to the player This evaluation only focuses on the main game option entitled Play Rah s Levels instead of the option Play Solitaire because the latter is provided for any player who wants to practice his skills in solving puzzles used in the game The main game option has 7 levels where the player has to solve a puzzle under a specified amount of time provided in each level before he can proceed to the next In every level the player is given a certain number of spells he can cast to help him solve a puzzle as well as gain extra life as a reward when certain conditions are met Moreover the level of difficulty increases as the player moves to the next level of the game STORY LINE Ra is the brother of Re the sun god He has fallen from grace and was cursed by Re to eternal suffering The curse can only be lifted by conquering all the dynasties of Re s reign where each dynasty is represented by a certain game level PLAYER S ROLE The player is presumed to be an Egyptian high priest that is on Ra s side where his main task is to remove the curse by solving all the puzzles in each dynasty game level Each puzzle is consisted of tiles with Egyptian hieroglyphics where every tile has to be matched by the player following certain rules established in the game INSTALLATION The installation process is straightforward and can be carried out with a few mouse clicks The game is packaged using a standard installation program for Windows which is likely the InstallShield software Once the game CD is in the CD ROM drive a setup window is automatically displayed on the screen by an AutoPlay file A series of dialogs instructions are then shown to guide the user throughout the whole process The whole installation process can be finished within 5 minutes and the game can be played afterwards it s recommended to reboot the computer after installation before playing the game USER INTERFACE The UI is simple and easy to understand For instance a small door that is opened showing a certain Egyptian monument of a certain dynasty represents an entry to a certain game level Afterwards a 2D view of the puzzle for that specific level is then shown on the screen Other UI features are as follows Icons are consisted of ancient Egyptian symbols and toggling F1 button causes labels to be shown which is useful for first time users Menu items have at most only one sub level Colors used in the game are easy on the eyes Fonts used for instructions and labels are large text is easy to read Instructions system dialogs and labels are short concise and direct to the point Options are provided through labeled buttons and icons Control of the game is made possible by keyboard mouse recommended and game pad GAME PLAY The game is a good brainteaser for players who love abstract test under time pressure because of the objective of matching symbols shown by the tiles Furthermore Single Player and Multiplayer one on one 2 3 4 relay options are also provided by the game By the way the multiplayer is two fold which means that two players can battle each other on who can get the highest score or two to four players can take turns to solve the puzzle as a relay having a combined score Various means of controlling is available where the player can use the keypad Mouse or Game Pad SCORING The number of tiles matched by the player is used to score the game Bonus score is available depending on the available time left when the player solves the puzzle of a certain game level Furthermore the top 10 scorers of the game are recorded by the program and basically motivates players to get a better score next time ARTWORK Egyptian art and pictures are heavily utilized throughout the game and is stimulating because it adds a certain mystery to the game SOUND AND MUSIC There is no continuous music playing in the background and it helps because matching the tiles requires focus Only sound effects are provided only on certain conditions such as tiles are matched or moved spells are casted moving on the next level clicking a game option or when the allotted time to solve the puzzle runs out SPECIAL FEATURES For every dynasty game level that entered by the player the program gives the player a cryptic password It is useful when the player returns to the latest level that he she has not yet solved MANUAL No manual is available when product was bought because it was sold as a shrinkwrapped CD What compensates this limitation was the availability of a Help file RaHELP hlp that gets installed in the PC during setup and it could be printed to serve as a guide for playing the game as well as for information on tech support BUGS No bugs have been encountered throughout the installation gameplay evaluation GAME REVIEW GOOD FUN PART OF THE GAME Solving the curse puzzle of a certain dynasty before time runs out already gives a good challenge that a player can easily get hooked Another thing that adds to the excitement is that the tiles in all the puzzles are not arranged in the same way for every player thus it entail different approaches and techniques to solve it The tile arrangement is the same only when the player uses the password to go back to the latest level that was unsolved and played earlier Last but not the least is that the player is given extra control of the game by being able to
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