LO1 - Game Analysis - Rise of Berk

Rise of Berk - iOS

Genre

Rise of Berk is a sort of construction and management simulation-strategy game in which you can create, build and expand on your own village of Berk. You manage and collect your own resources, battle enemies, and explore different lands, also giving it certain characteristics of a 4x game. It's similar to games like Jurassic Park Builder, which is by the same company.

Narrative

The story follows the general plot of the franchise, using well-known characters from the films and TV series to progress the narrative. The player has to complete certain tasks that advance in difficulty as time and skill goes on. The story connects with the target audience because it is targeting fans of the How to Train Your Dragon franchise.

Production process

The game was released for iOS in May 2014 and on 20th June 2014 for Android and Facebook. It is frequently updated to fix bugs and add features. The most impressive aspect of the the game's production is the graphics; it is obvious that this is the most worked on aspect of the game.

Characterisation

The characters featured in the game are the same characters from the films and TV show. This attracts the target audience. These characters appeal to the target audience because the audience already knows these characters and has seen them before. There isn't too much focus on the characters other than to progress the story and give the player various tasks to complete. In terms of the game as standalone rather than as another element of the franchise as a whole, the characters aren't too developed. However, the target audience is people who are already fans of the franchise, so they don't need to develop the characters too much.

Gameplay

The game presents various challenges to the player that increase in difficulty as the player progresses. These challenges keep the player engaged as they provide in-game rewards upon completion. The player is also motivated to keep playing and levelling up to be able to search for new dragons. The gameplay engages with the narrative by incorporating the various tasks into the storyline.

Target audience

The target audience for this game is fans of the How to Train Your Dragon franchise. We can tell this from the characters, music, narrative, gameplay and the title of the game itself. The game appeals directly towards the target audience because of all the familiar features of the franchise. It's got a similar target audience to the web-based game School of Dragons, however SoD has a generally younger target audience as it aims to educate about science as well as being a fun game.

Platform

This game is available on iOS, Android, and can also be played on Facebook on a computer if the player has the game connected to Facebook. However, the game is more suited to smartphone and tablet platforms as that is what it was designed for.