Peer Evaluation

Briefly describe the game, including its objectives.

I played Trials and Tribulations by Chris. The game is large and very well thought-out. Instead of one clear path to get to the finish, it uses a broad variety of features available in making the game itself and has many different alternate openings to explore different places. The objective of the game is to collect all 7 crystals, which are very well hidden and require the player to overcome many different obstacles and monsters.


List two strengths of the game.

The game's design is very unique from many of the other games, as it has paths and openings leading to other places. Having the crystals in different places across the map also ensures that people will have to explore the entire map so that they won't miss any crystals. A great deal of knowledge is displayed in the different obstacles that are set out, as they will take not only just controlling the character, but figuring out how to pass them.

Also, the game shows that lots of time has been spent into making it. There are several areas that have decorations spread all over the background. It also includes different components other than the typical stone block, which makes the game more interesting.

List one weakness of the game.

A weakness of the game would be that some of the "blocks" such as the windmill are sometimes too closed in with surrounding walls that it is extremely hard to get by. With the game's lag, this makes it possible to glitch through to the other parts of the map that are not supposed to be accesible. This occured to me when collecting a certain crystal and I got glitchd through the wall and got stuck, provided the three walls enclosing one side and the game boundaries making it impossible to get out.

Were the enemies/obstacles too much of a challenge?

I thought the enemies right off the bat and obstacles were extremely challenging. Perhaps it would have been different for a more advanced player, but the very first time I played it, I died within the first minute without collecting even one crystal. In my best game, I only managed to retrieve three crystals, so yes, it was a bit of a challenge for me.

Were the 'lags' induced by the size of the game much of an issue?

I didn't find that there was much lag while playing the game, except for certain tiles that took a little longer to appear than the already existing ones. Occasionally, they alerted me and slowed me down to confirm that it was possible to walk past, but otherwise, there were no major problems.


Was the complexity of the caverns and canals (the orientation, passages, etcetera) too confusing?

The radar was a huge help in telling me which direction I had to head over to. At first, I was very confused in where I should go, as the map showed many different openings that I could take. Eventually, I picked a certain path and found my first crystal. Retracing my steps back to the beginning, I found my second crystal and so forth. There was a point, however, in which I was completely lost and wandered back to places I had initially passed already. Overall though, I didn't think the orientation was too confusing, and with the use of luck and the radar, it was easily passable.