Gaming Manifesto, part 2 (sort of)

It's another week and it's time for me to talk more about game design. I began this last week, and I have since learned a lot more.

There is an amazing Youtube channel, Extra Credits, and if you are even a little bit interested in anything I said last week, or what I'm about to say now, please go watch some of their videos. They are really excellent.

So, why do we play games? The easy answer is: to have fun of course!

But there is more to it than that. Many have said that This War of Mine is in fact not a fun game, but that it is both compelling and thought provoking. These things can be fun in and of themselves, but it goes beyond that. This War of Mine makes you reflect on yourself and your morals. It explores consequences, good and bad. As such this is a good game, even though it's not exactly fun.

If we however stick with fun for now, the question becomes, what is fun? A very subjective question indeed, but there are a few things the great majority of gamers do agree on. The best selling games regardless of genre, have a few common denominators.

1. They are approachable.
2. They are challenging but fair.
3. They have both depth and complexity.

What does approachable really mean? A good example of an approachable game is World of Warcraft. No one needed to know the first thing about mmorpg's or indeed Azeroth to sit down and play. There was nothing that was too hard to do or understand in the beginning. They even sneaked tutorial elements into the starting area without you ever noticing. It's no coincidence that WoW had 12 million players at it's peak. It was good design.

An unapproachable game is Crusader Kings II. I've tried, oh how I gave tried. There are so many things you need to be aware of as soon as the game starts and failure here, can spell doom. A good example is the very first thing you have to do: pause the game. If you don't, the AI will steal all the best available brides in Europe, leaving you with the “dregs”. The game, to my knowledge, doesn't explain this. You simply have to know it.

So how is a game challenging and fair? Well, for one, it's always consistent. Enemies can be brutally difficult to beat, but should never exhibit new abilities they have never used before at convenient locations, just to dick you over. A jump can be terribly hard to manage, but it mustn't have an invisible wall because “you are not allowed to go there”. If you can get there, you are allowed to go there. The Dark Souls games are fine examples of tough but fair.

Another example of fairness, is consistent power use. I talked about this last week, but it bears repeating. Don't give the players abilities that suddenly don't work for no reason. That's wrong and unfair. Give a reason if you need to handicap the character. It also infuriates me when a scripted event overrides my skill. In Fallout 3, I had a character with maxed stealth skill. I could sneak up on anyone, and escape from anywhere, without being seen. Except towards the end where the Enclave manages to both detect me, and sneak up on me while they are wearing power armor, in order to kidnap me. Bull---shit!

Depth and complexity is a tough point. And since it requires both space and time, and I don't want to ramble on for too long, I'll save that for next time. Until then, have a fun week!

Gaming Manifesto

I just finished watching AngryJoe's review of Quantum Break, by Remedy.

I'm not going to talk about Quantum Break here, if you want to know more, got to AngryJoe's channel and watch it yourself. It's entertaining and funny, and well worth half an hour in my opinion. If you've been considering buying the game, you should definitely watch the review.

Anyway, it got me thinking, and I thought I'd talk a little bit about game design instead. Disclaimer: I am not a game designer, I am a gamer. Therefore this is completely from the viewpoint of a consumer not a producer.

The basic gameplay must be good

Whatever game you are making has to be worth playing at it's most basic core. Example: Grand Theft Auto is about cars, so driving them has to be fun. It doesn't matter how much extra fluff you put in the game, if the driving mechanic is garbage. Luckily GTA 5 is a great game and the cars are fun. If the basics are off, the game is off, no matter what.

There is no substitute for level design

Something that is sadly rare these days, good level design is crucial to most games. Sure, a football game doesn't need level design as it's a field, but most others do. Boring layouts and overuse of the same configurations kills the mood quickly. Levels should be interesting to explore, they should challenge us and make us think outside the box. Even back in the day when corridor shooters a la Doom 1 were the norm, the levels were varied and atmospheric. Do not rinse and repeat.

There is no substitute for quality

Here's a shocker: No matter how good the graphics are, they don't matter at all if the game is boring. Games aren't movies, they must be fun to play. Not that special effects can save bad films either, it's just that in games you drive the action, you do he work and if it's a chore, the game fails. The story has to be well written and the characters likeable/hateful as required. You wouldn't read a book if you care nothing for the characters, the same goes for games. Fancy graphics can't cover up these issues.

Powers and Abilities must be consistent

This is what prompted me to write this. In Quantum Break you can rewind time to go back to a point where a locked door is unlocked, so that you can walk through. Except when you can't for no reason whatsoever. If you give the players powers, assume they are going to use them. If that becomes problematic when designing levels, don't put the power in the game to begin with. Or put limitations on how the power works, like This power only works during the day for this reason. That way you can make sure that your level works. Also, when inventing cool abilities for your game, don't forget to put in why something doesn't work all of a sudden.

Example: Dishonored. You get lots of cool powers in this game. One, Windblast, can smash open doors, but not reinforced doors. This may seem like quibbling, but keep in mind you also can't blow down walls. This remains consistent throughout the game. I never felt like the game cheated in Dishonored, not even once.

Anyway, this was part 1 of my “gaming manifesto”. I'll probably do more next time, so until then, have a great week!

Oculus Rift

Today we're going to take another look at the emerging technology that is virtual reality.

I found two of Angry Joe's videos for you to look at. The first is an unboxing and setup/review of the Oculus Rift and the second is a game review for Dreadhalls, a horror game for the Oculus.

Not only do I find this tremendously interesting in itself, but the one point that really stood out in the Dreadhalls video, is the point Joe makes about the games graphics.

See, the graphics are “old-school” if I'm being polite. I could be rude and call them dated and clunky, but I am nothing if not polite. That's not the point either way. The point is what I have been saying for years, namely that graphics mean nothing if the game isn't good.

With the immersion the VR goggles creates, you'll forget about the graphics in no time, and your survival is all that becomes important. By today's standards, Skyrim's graphics are old, but that doesn't matter when I play it, since the game is so good.

For years now, people have complained that the AAA studios are churning out bland garbage. Not all the time, sure, but too often considering the price tags. Then the studios complain that the games aren't selling well enough, even though they turn out a healthy profit.

Of course, if you invest $250 million on a game and the players can't even begin to guess what you actually managed to spend the money on, you have a problem. Yes, the game looks awesome, but with barely any story, and dull repetitive gameplay, your game is not going to break any records, and then it does not matter how pretty the game is. No way, and never.

Case in point: The Order 1886. Amazingly beautiful graphics, boring dumb gameplay. I can't find any hard numbers on it's sales, but all sources report it was garbage, and a large portion of the gamers refused to even finish the game. That alone says something considering it's about six hours long.

So what does that have to do with the Oculus Rift? Well, this:

VR is the first new thing to happen to games in decades. And I'm not talking about minor things like “Ooh, we put a touch pad on the controller. Isn't it shiny and wonderful?”

Sure that's “new” but at the end of the day it's still just a controller. VR is for-real-new, and it will hopefully teach the developers and publishers to think outside the box and make them reevaluate what makes a good game, not just for VR but for all gaming.

That's it for me today, so until next time, have a cool week!

Backup video links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87IJU1AtcAw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvvooIcET8k

The whole rotten saga

One Sunday evening, back in the early 90's, I flopped down on the couch for some creative channel surfing.

On BBC World, I found something with a castle, which peaked my interest. I like castles, you see. Then I saw Rowan Atkinson, who I recognized from Mr. Bean, but this wasn't that. Oh no, this was my first glimpse of Blackadder, and I've been hooked ever since.

I have long since lost count of how many times I have watched the four original seasons, but I still know most lines by heart, even though it's been more than twenty years now. I have seen the specials, Blackadder back and forth, The Blackadder Christmas special and the Cavalier Years. They're good, but not as good as the originals.

Last week, I stumbled on Blackadder – The Whole Rotten Saga, and thought to my self, Hello, a new special? Alas, no. It's not a new special but rather a 90 minute documentary about the show. Interviews with all the original actors, the writers and producers. If you ever watched Blackadder and thought it was funny, you should watch this, you really should.

So here you go, The whole rotten saga:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi2bX2u5HpA