Posted by Brice on July 5, 2010
I’ve recently been playing through a classic RPG, Final Fantasy VI (Final Fantasy III when it came out in the U.S. for the Super Nintendo). Some readers may remember this game fondly from their childhood, while others may have never played it but would recognize some Base Mechanics as ancestors of their current day favorite games.
Many things could be said about FFVI; it was iconic for the SNES generation and revolutionary in terms of its use of cutscenes and beautiful 2D graphics. In many ways, the game, and many other Square RPG’s of the time, is the inspiration of many indie titles today like Independent Games Festival finalist Owlboy, which models its graphical style after games that were released around 1994-1996. That period of time was the height of big-budget 2D games; before then the resources weren’t available to make large, massive, epic titles, and afterwards those resources were spent on 3D titles on the Nintendo 64 and original Playstation. Truly this was an unusual window in time that resulted in some stunning games.
Final Fantasy VI is a great game to dissect and analyze, especially in terms of a useful game design concept that we haven’t discussed before on The Game Prodigy: Gameplay Clusters.
WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
Posted by Brice on May 30, 2010
How can a game feel like it was made by the developers “out of love”? How can a game seem like the developers implemented everything that they thought would be fun and interesting, lacking nothing? How can a game feel like it went 110% to provide a top-notch experience?
There are many components to making a game. There are the Base Mechanics, the rules of how the game works. There are the Punishment and Reward Systems and Long Term Incentive, which fuel why the player plays and for how long. And there is the Aesthetic Layout, the artwork, sounds, and polish layered on top of the rest of the game that help to fill out its Core Experience.
We’ve discussed before how the gameplay, what they player is actually doing, is more often than not the most important aspect of a game’s design. But left alone, the Base Mechanics of a game are just mathematical constructs. Without aesthetics, the game feels stale to most non-engineers. These rules and gameplay blocks must be built. However, once that has been taken care of, how can a developer get their game to be perceived as the highest quality? What are the indicators of a good versus a great game?
This final, key 10% of the game is what is referred to in the industry as “polish”. It is the time in development when the game could in fact be considered “done”, but just a few more features, tweaks, and sparkles will help it to shine through to players and stand out from the crowd and breathe life into it. Well polished games are described with words such as “charming”, “engrossing”, “fascinating”. Well polished games are loved by their players. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
Posted by Brice on March 21, 2010
I could hear the man yelling at the cashier. I have to do something, I thought to myself. I quietly started walking towards the grocery aisle behind the gunman and began to approach. Maybe I could tackle him or something. Suddenly my arm brushed a bottle and it began tumbling to the ground. A button appeared for me to catch it, but I wasn’t prepared, and whether it was a Circle or a Triangle escaped me. The bottle tumbled to the ground and the gunman looked back at me. Drat! Now I was in trouble. He pointed the gun at me and ordered me over by the cashier. So much for that…now what?
And so continued another scene in Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain. This Playstation 3 only game has been getting a lot of press and some pretty impressive reviews recently. Being embraced rightfully as an “interactive narrative”, Heavy Rain chronicals the story of four characters tracking down the identity of a murderer known as the “origami killer”. An unlikely private investigator, a hopeless father of a murdered child, and other personalities pay a central roll in the game’s unfolding, built of deep characterization and large swaths of time developing your emotional connection with the characters.
I’ve written about Quantic Dream’s spiritual predecessor to Heavy Rain, Indigo Prophecy (Fahrenheit) several times. It was an interesting experiment in my mind, but from a gameplay design standpoint, I argued that there were some Base Mechanics that were poorly executed that completely harpooned the experience. I’m all for games that focus on unique Core Experiences, and having a game built around story and exposition is certainly not something that is done often on major consoles nowadays. Many players and reviewers enjoyed the game, but as the hours wore on, the poor gameplay design became too much to bear.
I am happy to say that Heavy Rain repairs much of the damage done by Indigo Prophecy’s design choices. This studio’s game title is definitely much more mature in its development than its predecessor, likely due to feedback and iteration on the first game’s choices. Let’s break it down. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
Posted by Brice on February 6, 2010
Valkyria Chronicles is a game that embodies well designed choice.
Choice is often necessary for the deeper emotions of life. Choice are how people express themselves, design their lives, and make mistakes. It is through choices that we build our pasts and shape our present. Choices make life feel alive and real.
Choices can also appear in games, but for some reason, when many developers attempt to create meaningful choice in their games, they miss key components. Oftentimes poorly executed choices in games tend to feel empty, unimportant, or as though there really was no choice at all.
Luckily, when trying to design something like meaningful choice, we are not groping in the dark (as with some other design challenges). Meaningful choice is something that you and I experience every day in our real lives. What can life teach us about game design in this area?
What is meant by meaningful?
Let’s start be defining exactly what our goal here is. I am defining a “meaningful choice” as a choice that the player makes that they actually care about. They deeply considered the choice. They felt the weight of the choice. And after the choice was over, they remember it and feel either satisfaction or regret.
A choice is a reflection of the player. Interactivity is one of the most important aspects of games that sets them apart from all other media. By giving the player a choice, you give them a chance to express themselves and differentiate their gameplay. You give them the chance not just to tell a story, but to show them the meaning of the consequences of their own actions, not just a set of actions that was predetermined. This lifts games above all other forms of storytelling.
According to the Game Design Canvas, meaningful choice is build using the bricks of the game’s Punishment and Reward Systems. There are three essential components. Neglect any one of them and the choice is rendered meaningless. The three ingredients are awareness, consequence, and permanence.
First Ingredient of Choice: Awareness
This may seem obvious, but you would be surprised how many early developers (including myself in my first games) make this mistake. For a choice to be meaningful, the player must first be aware that they are even being presented with a choice. Failing to recognize a choice is not the fault of the player, it is the fault of the game and the developer. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
Posted by Brice on January 29, 2010
I only recently got around to playing 2009’s most critically acclaimed game title: Uncharted 2 for the PS3. Personally as a player, this isn’t exactly my kind of game; I’m not a huge shooter fan and, like Avatar, the story and premise seemed a bit simple. However, as a game designer, I can’t excuse myself from a game so highly regarded among players and developers alike. Even if it didn’t interest me in the name of my own entertainment, it certainly interested me in the name of my design education.
After sinking a good number of hours into it, I can definitely say that it is worth the ride. The game has a captivating story and interesting characters, but that’s not why it’s a great game. It is a great game because of the only thing that can make a great game: great gameplay. Let’s step through two of the best points of this game’s design and execution.
Don’t Tell Me About It; Let me Do It
Let’s start with Uncharted 2’s biggest selling point: you get to play everything you want to play. You do everything you want to do. Action? You do it. Talking? It’s just a cutscene. This may seem obvious, but it’s more difficult than it sounds. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
