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!