Further case study research: The Last of Us no.1

Since this specific game has been chosen as the case study material, beginning with the deconstruction of the game and start writing about the game along with each criteria which has been set previously. These writings will be improved later on with feedback and general opinions from others.

The Last of Us

 The Last of Us is a video game well known for its dynamic environment scenes, the experience of individual character development, leading to one of the most successful game piece in its genre. The Last of Us is a game in an unsettling environment with two protagonists on a journey, finding the answer to cure the disease which is the cause of post-apocalyptic situation in this universe. The purpose of this case study is to use this game and manage to make it into parts of scenes and communicate it though to audiences, by using the extended version of criteria to break down the elements, which have contributed to it becoming one of the pioneering video game made in 21^st century.

Fig.1 Concept Art

 The origin of this video game (action-adventure survival-horror) started from post-apocalyptic setting (Fig.1). The core concept idea began from an infection known as Cordyceps fungi, which mainly infect insects, takes charge of motor functions, dominating them entirely. This small but subtle idea was the crucial moment, which made director of the game, Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann, to think “We wanted that contrast between the elegance and the delicacy versus the pure anguish, pain, and disgust of being controlled by a parasite.” (Takahashi, D. 2013).

Visual Story-telling

 Immersion of story-telling in The Last of Us is one of the main features to be mentioned. The fact that the setting of a game is rather similar to 21^st century’s time period, allows audiences to engage into the game-play more straightforward. The game falls under the genres of action-adventure survival horror, and as for protagonists and antagonists will be reflected by these environmental setting. In order to convey the story of the game, combination of character and environment needs to harmonise well with each other to give maximum deliverance to audiences. The Last of Us is designed to assimilate the zombie apocalypse and it has delivered well by using realistic graphics on both environment and characters. The intensity within critical scenes such as when protagonists encounter antagonists delivers those extreme moments to audiences by the situation it has been set on. 

Reference:

Takahashi, D. (2013). What inspired The Last of Us (interview). [online] VentureBeat. Available at: http://venturebeat.com/2016/04/04/gaming-company-machine-zone-launches-rtplatform-enabling-millions-of-real-time-interactions/