Research Recap

Before I rip into putting my presentation together I want to provide a quick recap to tick all the last boxes of research. So here is a more concise version of my last post with a bit more development:

Devil May Cry Series:
- upon death use of a "gold orb", "continue" or "main menu" are selectable. Unless the mission is quit (by selecting "main menu") death carries a score deduction (amount of deduction varies between games).
- gold orbs allow an on-the-spot resurrection, enemies stay in whatever state they were in upon player death, but carries with it an "item used" score reduction (again, amount of deduction varies between games).
- continue restarts the player from the closest checkpoint on full health and all enemies reset as well.
Features that build on the death mechanic are the gold orbs as a purchasable item, the final mission score as death deducts from it, decreasing how many rewards the player receives. The fact that the game assesses the player's performance means death has meaning and good players will want to avoid it.

Dark Souls:
- upon death player re-spawns at closest bonfire.
- all collected souls and humanity are lost and enemies reset. Player becomes "hollow".
- if body is reached without suffering another death all souls and humanity can be restored. Player returns to being human.
- while online, players can leave behind bloodstains that can be examined by other players. This plays a cinematic of their last moments, allowing the viewer to learn from other's mistakes.
The loss of souls and humanity can be devastating, especially if the player has been saving up for a long time. Humanity also brings with it several advantages, such as gaining souls at a faster rate or having more health. This means that death, despite having infinite re-spawns, is still undesirable (even if it is the game's primary method of teaching).

Pokemon Series:
- upon a Pokemon fainting they are removed from battle and another Pokemon must be sent forth. If the player has no more Pokemon then they lose the battle and must flee to a Pokemon centre (this is referred to as "blacking/whiting out").
- a player who whites out loses money.
- obviously a Pokemon that has fainted cannot be used in battle which puts the player at a disadvantage for the rest of the battle.
- Pokemon that faint often enough begin to distrust the player and misbehave in battle.
Whiting out is almost the equivalent of a player dying. Certain battles must be won for the player to progress and if your Pokemon are misbehaving from fainting too often, battles are harder to win. A damaged relationship between the player and their Pokemon can take a while to reverse and as one of the main themes of the Pokemon series is companionship, letting Pokemon faint undesirable on an emotional level too.