case study on video games

1. Case Study
Pippa Funnell: Secrets of the Ranch
(Horsez 2)

2. Terminology
Game World:
Terrain: The terrain is usually the countryside, but she goes to a town, a forest,
the gorges and her or other peoples houses. Usually it just contains the ground
and the sky. It does change if you move rooms or buildings but you are always
on the floor never in the sky.
Architecture: There are lots of buildings and trees. You can go into the buildings
but you don’t manually open or move the building you just press the space bar
and your character is inside. The architecture makes up the little French town
mainly to make cafes, shops or houses.
Objects: Most objects in the game or just general things you would find on a
stud farm like sponges or brushes. You can however collect figurines of each
character in the game and if you pick them all up you win a prize. You can also
buy clothes and cute things to collect or change your appearance.
Characters:
Playable characters: Emma (Main Character), she is on her way to vet school in
Paris but cannot get there. She is blonde and sarcastic and likes to help people.
She stays at the stud farm and woks there.
Non Playable: Oliver is the Nephew of Flora and Michael, he is a similar age to
Emma and is French. He makes friends with her and he lives in town yet works at
the farm. You can speak with him and have conversations yet cant control him.
Michael is his Uncle by marriage, he is quiet and doesn’t have much of a role in
the game apart from being very morally right. Flora is the Auntie and runs the
stud farm, she usually sets task at the beginning. Hugo isn’t a big character but
does affect some storylines more towards the end. All of those characters are
good, the only bad one is the Mayor who wants to stop Emma and Oliver from
doing good, he wants money and will do anything to get it. Emma
Flora
Oliver

3. Terminology
Feedback Interface: There isn’t really much feedback Interface with this game apart
from sound from the horses, people, weather or objects and things happening. To
play it you use the keyboard on a PC.
Perspective: The perspective of this game is Third Person so you watch your character
as they play in the game however sometimes it switches to ariel to show what is
happening around them. It’s 3D so the people and the setting look realistic and you
imagine that is how it would look in real life. Sometimes when something is
happening the perspective changes to context sensitive to focus on what she is doing
for example picking something up or turning a key or reading a book.
Cut Scenes: There are quite a few cut scenes (Full Motion Videos) within the game
mainly at the beginning of a new chapter or when some thing important happens.
They are short clips of the characters doing things that need to happen for the story
of the game to progress.
Avatar: The avatar in this game is the main character called Emma. You can control
her movements so where she walks, if she runs, her direction and what she does.
Game Type: This is a Single Player Game as there is only the ability for one person to
play at a time and the story is driven for this character.
Game Setting: The game is start and is set in modern day France in a little village at
the beginning of 2006 and it moves on throughout the years to around 2008.
Main
characte
r Emma
All the
other
characters.

4. Terminology
Narrative: The game has a very complicated narrative. At first the game just seems to be about looking after
horses, you can clean them everyday and feed them and ride them. You can complete levels with them and
compete to earn money and get better. However you also have to do the secondary objectives that are set for
you as the more you do it can change the outcome of the game. You then also have special tasks that you have
to complete to move the game forward and to change chapter. At the beginning they are fairly easy and
simple but then once you find out the truth behind the stud farms history then they get more complicated and
important. They also sometimes set time limits on them that you have to beat in order to finish the game in
the way you want too. You can change the narrative by replying in different ways and choosing to do certain
thing. There are multiple different endings all depending on what you choose to do through out the game.
Once you have discovered the mystery you can keep playing free play with the horses and compete but there
is no storyline after that.
Player Goals: There are constant goals that the player needs to reach, mainly the secondary objectives that
they are set at the beginning and can work through throughout the game. Then the actual game objectives so
that they can progress through the levels and find out the secret behind Marie’s disappearance. At one point
she also needs to defeat the Mayor and save her own life which is an incentive to achieve.
Rewards: If you complete a certain amount of secondary objectives then you can unlock a different ending
and if you complete the chapters you get money so that you can buy clothes and items for you self or your
horses.
Rules: You can only ride on the main paths however if you leave your horse in the center of the road then you
can get off and run anywhere. If it gets to 4:00AM you automatically go to sleep and you can wake up at half
hour intervals from 6:00AM to 11:00AM as long as you set your own alarm. You cant buy more money or
items with real money and you have to pass the chapter to get onto the next section of the game/story.

5. Terminology
Difficulty Settings: There are different levels of difficulty that you can choose when setting up your account
however as this game is suitable for kids aged 6+ it doesn’t have much of a difference between them.
Inventory: You can buy and collect all different types of horse ware like saddles and numnahs and then all
different items of riding ware for the character like boots and jodhpurs. You can also collect and buy clothes
and hair dye for the avatar and then get other collect able items such as a notebook, a necklace or a camera.
Then you can find and collect figurines and if you get them all it changes the outcome of your game.
Winning: Your scoring throughout the game is achieved by passing levels and then completing the entire game.
You may have to get to someone in time or find something or figure something out in time. This means that
you can progress to the next level.
Balance: There is no multiplayer faculty and therefore there is no need for balance in the game play.
Addiction: Video game addiction was recognised as a mental disorder in May 2013 as more and more people
began suffering from this very real problem. One of the main issues with gaming addictions are the symptoms
which are equivalent to some or all of the symptoms associated with drug addictions. With more and more
cases being revealed it was finally decided to make it an actual disorder. Cases of parents neglecting their
children to death and kids staying inside for weeks on end contributed to the decision. One article on WCVB
from the ABC network in America said that “ Experts say playing video games too often can short-circuit the
brains of young people, impeding their ability to develop problem-solving and coping skills”. This disorder is
therefore impacting our younger generation more than we know. Along with gambling, people find it hard to
stop as they only need ‘one more go ‘ to do better resulting in them disowning their real life outside the world
of their game.

6. Terminology
Artistic styles: I think that this game uses photo realism ( or at lest tries
too) to represent it’s characters. This game was released in 2006 and
therefore their attempt at this is low compared to what you see today
however it doesn’t really fit into any of the other categories and
therefore this what is it most like.
Graphics: This game is 2D graphic game as it is only 2D however it tries
to give the impression that is has more depth and therefore tries to look
realistic and 3D.
Concept Art: There isn’t really any concept art as this is quite a small
franchise and isn’t that well known however the character and game are
based loosely around a real life woman and on the cover of each cover
are pictures of the ‘Character’ if they were human.
Background Graphics: The background graphics change depending on
the location you are in. Usually if you are outside then it contains hills
and grass and rivers, with animals and plants in the background.
However each house or building that you can go into has a different
setting and interior.

7. Terminology
Game Interface:
There isn’t much game interface on this game when you
are just moving around, just a clock in the top left hand
corner of the screen. However your keyboard keys can
change what comes up so you could have the camera,
her diary and objectives, the map or the inventory pop
up on the screen. When the character has a conversation
with another person it comes up at the bottom like on
this picture and the words change accordingly.
Box Art:
The photo to the right is the box art for this game. It
contains the title on the middle right. On the top left
hand corner it says what you can play it on which is a PC.
In the bottom left hand corner it says how old you have
to be and the rating is 3+ as it doesn’t have adult
content. Then the middle icon at the bottom is the
developer which is UBISOFT and then the right bottom
corner says the publisher which is a French company
called lexisnumerique. The main photo in the middle is
woman and a horse which shows people that the game
will be about a lady who has horses and that there will
be horses in this game.

8. Case Study
Audio:
The game has a very varied use of audio throughout. It obviously has sound effects for all things
from walking to opening doors. This makes the game very realistic and enjoyable to pay. It also
has audio when people speak so you can hear them and their different voices which brings them
to life more than if it were just text on the screen. However this game also has different music
depending on what you are doing. So if you re out a night is its scary or if you’re in a tense
situation then the music is tense and makes you want to get to safety. It is very emotive and
makes the game completely.
Genre:
This game has a large part of it which is just about horses where you can ride them, look after
them and buy them. This art is very similar to the other games of this genre however this game
also has another art to it. It is a mystery game where you have to solve the problem and ass
levels. This means that the game differentiates itself from other horse games.
Graphics Similar:
There are three more games released around a similar time to this one from the same family of
games. They all have very very similar graphics and many of the characters look almost exactly
the same. They were al released between 2006 and 2007 and therefore aren’t very modern
compared to games graphics now.
Console:
To play this game you need a PC. The only necessary thing that you need on it is an up to date
flash player which is free to download from the internet. This is all that you need as you just need
the keyboard and mouse to control and play the game.