Overview
Rayman Origins is a video game that was developed and published by Ubisoft Entertainment. Rayman Origins (2011) is the fourth release of the Rayman franchise. The Rayman franchise was first popularized in the early 2000’s with the releases of Rayman (1995) and Rayman 2 (1999). With the momentum of the Rayman franchise, Ubisoft started the Raving Rabbid series. This series of games included many of the popular characters from the Rayman franchise. Rayman Origins was Ubisoft’s first release back into the Rayman franchise since venturing into the Raving Rabbid series.
Rayman Origins is a 2D side-scroller platform game. The game was originally released for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii game system. Later releases were made available for the Playstation Vita, Nintendo 3Ds, and Windows. For the scope of this analysis, it will be applicable to the game being played on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. The Wii version has different input mechanics. This may lend to differences in areas as such as audience and difficulty which will not be covered in this analysis.
Story
The world that Rayman lives in is called the Glades of Dreams. This game begins with the god that created the world, the Bubble Dreamer, having gone mad. Rayman and his friends, Globox and the Teensies, have escaped imprisonment to find their world in peril. Electoons, small round jovial beings, are filled with energy. This energy is the essence that holds the Glades together in harmony. These Electoons have been captured in cages by an evil army that the Livid Dead, the antagonists of the story, have sent to the Glades of Dreams to disrupt the harmony of the world. Rayman must restore the Glades to peace and help heal the Bubble Dreamer’s mind to sanity.
Figure 1. Main Map
By the end of the game, Rayman discovers that an old friend (The Magician) is the mastermind of the discord. The Magician pitted the Livid Dead against the Glades to distract the two from what he was doing. The Magician desires to concur the Glades of Dreams and rule it with his mechanical army. This is where the plot ends with the Magician escaping from Rayman and his friends after they find out what he is up to.
Gameplay
The game is divided into multiple worlds within the Glades of Dreams. Each land has its own theme. There are five main worlds. After the player beats the five worlds, a secondary level appears for each respective world. The player then has to beat all five of those secondary levels to unlock the Moody Clouds. The Moody Clouds is a world that is composed of a mechanical city that lies within an electrified dark storm. This is where the player encounters the magician and the plot ends. There is an optional extra level where Rayman travels to the world of the Livid Dead and restores a nymph that has been turned into a monster into her original form.
Figure 2. Moody Clouds
Core Mechanics
The player input with the game is through the input respective to the game console. For the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, this is with a controller that has a directional pad, two joysticks, and action buttons. The player has the option to play as Rayman, Globox, or Teensy. All the characters have the same actions available with just visual differences. For example, the ability to punch looks different for Rayman than Teensy’s punch. Rayman throws the punch with his fist, while the Teensies make a burst of energy from their hands that does the same damage as Rayman’s punch.
Figure 3. Swinging mechanic
The player’s inherent movement to start the game is to run, jump, and swing. Other movements are unlocked as the player completes the worlds. These movements include the ability to: punch, glide, shrink, dive, and run up walls. The player can also hold the attack button before letting go and it will charge up the punch into a more powerful punch.
Most enemies can be killed with a variety of different movements. In turn, enemies can attack and there are also dangerous obstacles throughout the worlds. The player can die with one touch to something hazardous. There are shields in the form of hearts in flying vases. With the heart, the first hit will make the player lose the heart and again become vulnerable to future hazards.
Rayman Origins is the first of the franchise to have co-operative play that extends up to 4 players. The addition of other players does not necessarily give the player a collective advantage over playing single player. During co-op, if one player dies, they will float into the scene in a bubble and can be brought back to life by the other player going and popping the bubble with contact. However, the camera must keep both players in view. This, in turn, leads to some negative effects in the form of limit view of the map. These disadvantages balance out any play advantages that the co-op gives to the player.
Decision Making
Most of the decision making that the player faces in this game are: Choice of actions, Blind, and Risk vs Reward. Choice of actions is a factor in a couple of instances. One instance is when the player is faced with an enemy. The enemies often do not need to be killed to proceed through the level. Simply avoiding the enemies attacks are enough to keep going. The player must make a choice that is often referred to as “fight or flight”.
The next decision type is Blind. There are blind decisions made in two recurring instances. First, there are some doorways that the player can go through to open a new area. These areas are unknown to the player and often contain a special coin or other bonuses. The other example is when presented with two different paths that can be taken. This is often presented in elevation changes and the player will not know if they missed an important item by taking the path they did.
The last decision type is Risk vs Reward. This type of decision is often “baked” into the previous decisions covered but it is very persistent through the game with dangerous obstacles/enemies and lumens. Lumens are little light characters that can be traded to rescue Electoons.
Figure 4. Rayman and Lumens
Play Balancing
In one feature of the game, play balancing can be seen. One time in each world, there is a level where you chase a Darktoon that has a Nymph trapped in its mouth. The player has to catch up to the Darktoon and hit it before it gets away. Play balancing is very prevalent in these levels. If the player is slow at the beginning of the level, the Darktoon will often hang back and wait for the player to get closer. If the player is very fast the Darktoon will also stay very fast so it is out of reach to the player. The second half of these levels are often the time where being slow or fast makes a difference and the play balancing starts to fade.
Randomness vs Skill
The success of the player is solely dependent on skill. Since it is a platform game with no resource decisions, the game relies on the player’s timing and decision making. The only randomness that could come into play would be based on the blind decisions that were referred to above. The environment and layout are permanent. They stay the same every time the level is played. Therefore, with experience and exploration, the player can eliminate that randomness with prior knowledge.
Koster’s Theory of Fun
Koster’s theory can be applied to Rayman Origins. One of Koster’s theories is that the player gets bored when they have “learned” the game. Rayman follows this theory because of the new abilities that the player acquires as they advance. The new ability is acquired and the following levels often cater to the player learning their new ability. Just as the player “learns” this ability, a new one is introduced.
Another of Koster’s theories is that the player wants to optimize their effort. This can be valid for the scenario mentioned above in the Risk vs Reward decision type. Not all enemies need to be killed. Not all lumens need to be collected. The player will often collect and kill the necessary items to achieve the task at hand so they can optimize their time and continue progressing through the game.
Lazzaro’s Four Keys
Out of Lazzaro’s four keys of fun (easy; hard; people; serious), Rayman Origins caters to hard and people fun. Hard fun comes from achieving a difficult goal. Rayman involves lots of hazards and requires the player to master the mechanics of the game to make it through the levels. The goal of the game is to beat these levels and that is where the player finds accomplishment.
As mentioned above, Rayman Origins introduces co-op capabilities. The player can find satisfaction through this mode in the form of people fun. The co-op does not add anything to the game itself. This means that the only incentive for the player to do co-op is to have a shared experience with another person.
Figure 5. Co-op play
Bartle’s Taxonomy of Players
Bartle categorizes 4 types of players: killers, achievers, explorers, and socializers. Rayman caters mostly to achievers and explorers. Achievers get satisfaction from beating challenges. They tend to get more satisfaction with harder challenges. This is the basis of Rayman Origins and could be considered pigeon-holed to this specific audience. For explorers, they find enjoyment by not only exploring the map, but from also learning all the details of the game mechanics. The fact that Rayman introduces new mechanics as the game goes on, would most likely excite this category of players.
Difficulty
The flow of Rayman Origins can be considered to be a steady rise in the desired zone. The game achieves this consistent flow with the introduction of new abilities and increasing the difficulty of the levels as the player approaches the end of the respective world. This increase of difficulty matches up well as the player begins to master the new game mechanic/ability.
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