Animal Crossing was created in 2001 by Nintendo. It is a single-player game where players interact with animal villagers and complete casual activities like collecting items, planting flowers, and socializing. There are no defined objectives. The terrain is a detailed small village with interactive elements like trees and rocks. Characters include a playable human avatar and non-playable animal villagers. While Animal Crossing does not have traditional feedback interfaces like vibration, it can promote addiction in some players who exhibit signs like irritability when unable to play and isolation from others.

1. ANIMAL CROSSING
CASE STUDY
Hannah Palfreeman

2. Animal Crossing- The
Background
Animal crossing was created in
2001. It was developed and
published by the company
Nintendo. The players have no
defined objectives, but there are
many activities to do in their
spare time. They can collect
items, planting plants or other
items like money and socialising
with the village residents. A single
village can house up to four
human players, though only one
can be exploring the village at any
given time. The NPC’S and the
playable character can interact via
written messages through the
village post office or the bulletin
board outside the town hall.

3. Terrain/ Architecture/Objects
The terrain for animal crossing is very detailed. It
is based in a small country village with a beach
which brings little messages in bottles
sometimes. There is also a Town hall, a shop and
a clothes shop where you can make your own
clothes using some designs which you have
designed. All the things featured in Animal
crossing are interactive. You can shake the trees,
if you hit the rocks sometimes money can come
out. The character can also walk and run around
the environment.
There is no architecture in animal crossing as
everything is interactive. All the rocks and trees
are interactive as you get items when you either
shake or hit them. However, in the top photo you
can see big rocks which you can climb up so they
are very interactive.

4. Characters
The characters featured in animal crossing are a
mixture of Playable characters and NPC’S (Non-
Playable Characters). The character which you
play is a playable character as you can decide
what they do. This is also your avatar. This to
the right will be your playable character and
underneath are the characters which are the
NPC’S are underneath. These are the ones
which you cannot control. The Playable changes
by gender to what you set your character up as.
You cannot change the hair but you can change
the outfit. Normally with the NPC’S characters
you can stop and have a conversation and go
inside their house. You cannot change anything
which they do.

5. Feedback Interface
Feedback Interface is when the
game can refer to how a game
can interfere with the player in
the real world. However, there is
no Feedback Interface
introduced in Animal Crossing
as unlike XBOX. XBOX has a
vibration control which can
interact with your real life.
There are many controllers
which light up when you reach
another level or when you score
a point. These interact with your
everyday life.

6. Perspectives
Animal crossing is from a 2D
perspective. However, there is an
option to play it 3D. A poll from
2013 48.33% of animal crossing
gamers play in 2D only. 15% said
they play in 3D entirely. There is
also a setting on Animal Crossing
where you can change the different
viewpoint. Animal Crossing is very
context sensitive and has the feature
of side scrolling so it’s not all just
one scene. Sneakily animal crossing
has put some cut scenes in. This can
be anything from talking to
someone and them having a
flashback about what they did today
or if they have fallen out with
someone. These are non-interactive
videos but they help building your

7. Game Type/ Narrative /Game
Setting
Animal Crossing is a Single player
game type. This is said to be rather
boring sometimes because there is no
one to be competitive game. However,
animal crossing is not competitive at all
and has no real objectives involved.
The narrative of animal crossing is
rather simple. It is to earn money and
to buy things. As well as this it’s to
socialise. It’s aimed at children aged 6-
10. The way that the characters have to
socialise is almost a life lesson to the
children.
The game setting is based in the 21st
century time. The location is unknown
but it’s in a country village with a very
limited population.

8. Goals/Rewards/Rules
There are no objectives in this game,
so there are no goals which are placed
into the environment. There is a type
of rewards, as you get money for doing
little activities. If you hit a rock,
sometimes you can get money out of it.
You can also sell stuff at the shop.
There are no specific rules in Animal
crossing as you can’t write your own
message. However, when naming your
character, you are expected to not to
use anything which is offensive in any
way.

9. Difficulty Settings/ Inventory/ Winning
As I have previously said, Animal crossing
isn’t a competitive game and there are no
aims involved so there is no difficulty
setting at all. However, there is an
inventory involved in Animal Crossing.
This means that you can collect times such
as fruit, and other furniture and things
like that. This is very useful as you can sell
the things in your inventory to earn more
money. There is no scoring winning as
such but involved in animal crossing you
can do little jobs for your friends in your
village. This is called a Win Condition.
This is where in is fulfilled by achieving a
goal/ challenge set by someone.

10. Balance
On animal crossing it does not
have a balance aspect. A balance
aspect is in order to ensure an
aspect of a game that is not
exploited. However, because
animal crossing is not competitive
and has no objectives it therefore
means that it does not include one
as it would be very useless. Games
which have a balance aspect are
most likely multiplayer games.
These games normally include
weapons, perks or abilities its
ensured that the player using them
an unfair advantage.

11. Artistic Style
There are 4 artistic styles currently
used within games; Photorealism,
Cel- Shading, Abstract and
Exaggeration.
The style for Animal crossing is
exaggeration. This is mainly because
exaggerated graphics can imitate the
real world but heighten certain
aspects. The characters are more
exaggerated than the trees and
houses. Grand Theft auto is a Photo-
realism style, this is mainly because
its reflects the real world. Dragon
Quest VIII is an example of Cell
Shading. An example of an abstract
game is Pong which is a very simple

12. Graphics
As well as the Artistic styles,
there are 2 main types of pixel
art, 2D sprites and 3D isometric
sprites. Animal crossing is a 3D
isometric Sprite. A 3D isometric
sprite is where a 2D graphic
image gives the impression of the
depth and being 3D. 3D graphics
are very different to 3D isometric
sprites and they are only used on
2D games to suggest 3D. An
example of a 3D game is halo.
The background graphics of this
game are used to populate the
game world. There are flowers in
Animal crossing which you can
plant this is a part of the

13. In Game Interface
An in game interface
is the way the game
informs you about
aspects of gameplay
visually on the
screen. This
screenshot is the
new animal crossing
game. This is the
first game where it
has objectives.
The ‘More’ button
on this display takes
you to more options
like the catalog and
your friends.This is your Inventory.
Level bar
Money
Menu Bar
Goals to
complete
Contacts
Craft- This is where u can
get furniture from
Map

14. Box Art
The machine which
Animal Crossing is
formatted for.
Title
Characters
producers
Requirement for this
game
Background, intrigues
the player to buy as it
looks fun
Game can be
played by
anyone

15. Addiction
Video game addiction is something which is
recognised by many mental health facilities
and professionals. According to the
University of New Mexico, recent studies
suggest that 6 to 15 percent of all gamers
exhibit signs that can be characterized as
addiction. Video game addiction have many
emotional symptoms. These include:
Feeling restlessness and/or irritability when
unable to play,
Lying to friends or family members regarding
the amount of time spent playing,
Isolation from others in order to spend more
time gaming.
However, there are more symptoms which
you can find out online.

16. Addiction
Video game addiction has recently increased
in the past few years. An estimated 72 percent
of American households play video games. In
a survey taken in 2016 9,000 men and
women over half said they had played
internet games recently. Of these between 2%
and 3% reported they had experienced five or
more of the symptoms on the list.
For this mental disorder treatment centres
have begun opening to counter the increasing
addiction rates.

17. Bibliography
A poll in 2013 says that 48.33% of animal crossing gamers say that they play the game in
2D only. However, 15% say that they play the game only in 3D. The rest say that they play
it in both.
Bibliography - Anon. . (2013). 3D or 2D?. Available: https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/997811-
animal-crossing-new-leaf/66362413. Last accessed 23rd Nov 2017.
https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/997811-animal-crossing-new-leaf/66362413.
Video game addiction have many emotional symptoms. These include:
Feeling restlessness and/or irritability when unable to play,
Lying to friends or family members regarding the amount of time spent playing,
Isolation from others in order to spend more time gaming.
anon. (.). Signs and Symptoms of Video Game Addiction. Available:
https://www.psychguides.com/guides/video-game-addiction-symptoms-causes-and-effects/. Last
accessed 26th Nov 2017.
https://www.psychguides.com/guides/video-game-addiction-symptoms-causes-and-effects/

18. Bibliography
According to the University of New Mexico, recent studies suggest that 6 to 15 percent of
all gamers exhibit signs that can be characterized as addiction.
Anon . (.). Signs and Symptoms of Video Game Addiction . Available:
https://www.psychguides.com/guides/video-game-addiction-symptoms-causes-and-effects/. Last
accessed 26th Nov 2017.
https://www.psychguides.com/guides/video-game-addiction-symptoms-causes-and-effects/
An estimated 72 percent of American households play video games
Anon . (.). The Most Alarming Video Game Addiction Statistics Available.Available:
https://www.addictions.com/video-games/alarming-video-game-addiction-statistics/. Last
accessed 26th Nov 2017.
https://www.addictions.com/video-games/alarming-video-game-addiction-statistics/
9,000 men and women over half said they had played internet games recently. Of these
between 2% and 3% reported they had experienced five or more of the symptoms on the
list.
anon . (2016). What percentage of people who play video games are 'addicted'?. Available:
http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2016-11-04-what-percentage-people-who-play-video-games-are-
addicted. Last accessed 26th Nov 2017.
http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2016-11-04-what-percentage-people-who-play-video-games-are-
addicted