Depth Versus Breadth (The Artifice Grail)

The following is the first in a series of essays about gameplay and how games from the 'core' can be adapted to appeal to all. This works from the idea that gameplay is powerful and that once a player is introduced properly to a game, he will love it. (if the proper systems and design are aligned)

We will discuss Halo, as an example of a game that did many things correct in this sphere, and also had a few failures as well. This is an introduction.

Design question:

Breadth vs. Depth.

Is it better to give a player a host of non-essential abilities that are not story critical, that on the surface present 'complexity?' Or, conversely, is it better to limit the player's control over the amount of things he may do in a game system and focus on what he can do inside of this boundary?

Are we telling an actual story or subjecting the player to an endless amount of system-user interface relationships? The latter model is extremely inconsistent and replies in large part on chance and weak storytelling elements to generate player emotion.

Examine the most culturally relevant and successful movies, specifically those that have been deemed works of great art. Even in those successful movies that are not deemed 'art,' (or high art, to be more specific), there is a calculated use of film in these instances. In a movie like Star Wars, the moment-to-moment and even minute-to-minute beats compose a work that has a profound impact on the viewer. The Godfather (I and II) is viewed as a supreme work of mastery because of the attention to detail by Francis Ford Coppola. One need only look at the notes of Coppola on Mario Puzo's script to know what insight the director brought to the picture, and why very few movies exist in modern day perception at that level of quality. Examine also the movies of James Cameron (Terminator 2) and Christopher Nolan (Dark Knight)

Terminator 2 and the Dark Knight are important to examine because they are transcendent pieces of action cinema. This is to say that they escape the trappings of their supposed target demographic (18-35 year old males come to mind) and have indelibly etched themselves in the pantheon of American cinema. Games naturally lend to action, so examining the success of these properties will tie into the proposed mechanics that we are seeking.

What all of the aforementioned titles have in common is the fact that they are focused. The answer to this statement is, quite obviously, that they are also movies. This again begets the question of breadth versus depth when applied to games. Depth of design will eschew all things not essential to telling a story, and will instead focus on the production of an interactive experience that will tell a story.

This again references that wonderful example of Gears' intersection of aesthetic and gameplay form. Though from a narratological standpoint the game is still lacking in a few key respects, it is worth noting how much the gameplay compliments the story's universe. Games will do well to shed the aspects of their designs that do not focus on aptly telling a great story.

Begging the question, I must point out that this does not mean that games should become super-streamlined pieces of artificial entertainment. A game may boast a wealth of facets to its gameplay form, but each of these must serve that game's point. Since most games involve a story, and that is the main takeaway for most experiencers of the form, it would follow to declare that a game involving a story should tell its story well.

Examining games as pieces of narrative language will confirm the need for depth versus breath. Novels in which the prose is scattered (however good those disparate parts may be) are not prime for the consumption of a story. Analagous to focused game would be any novel by Robert Ludlum. The great spy novels are renowned for their twisting yarns, and yet the prose is quite readable, and works within the ambitious frameworks without becoming too heady or convoluted.

A game must not be convoluted; rather, it must serve its narrative purpose with clarity and strength.

From Under the Shadows

Video games are not films. They are not literature - nor are they theater. Until designers realize this, games will continue to suffocate inside the current vacuum of innovation. Games are a medium all their own, and while they certainly aspects from the visual and performing arts - a concept that cannot be ignored - games contain one central, absolutely CRITICAL difference: Gameplay is king.

In the early 1900s, it became common for many silent films to contain title cards to help tell their stories. The filmmakers inserted parts of a completely different medium, literature, to help tell the story when they were unable to do so filmically. This is incredibly fascinating, because it is exactly what game makers are doing with games today: when they are unable to tell the story using gameplay, they insert a completely different medium. This medium, ironically, is film - or at least, something filmic: the cutscene.

The pattern seems almost uncanny - it suggests that, like the filmmakers of the early 20th century, game designers still don't know what we have. We are still in the "Silent" era of games; we have yet to come out from under the shadows of preceding media.

When it does emerge, it will be unlike anything the world has seen.

Gameplay as Aesthetic

Because games have been so limited in their scope (exempting the few forays into uncharted territory every year), there is a propensity to borrow.

The borrowing is only part of the parcel; the symptom runs deeper than this shared mechanic. Examine, for a moment, the mechanics of Epic's Gears of War. Gears has that aesthetic quality, that mysterious elixir that compels. It is a game about war and combat, with curious levels of depth beneath its aesthetic. Yet the most compelling aspect of Gears is the marriage of its gameplay aesthetic and the universe as a whole.

It is a game that punishes the player for running and gunning the style of Halo, but rewards for the chess-like measure and countermeasure of moving between cover. The roadie run ability evokes shades of Jean Pierre Melville's most intimate tracking shots, pulling the gamer into a dialogue with the visual language of the game's events with great detail and success.

This aesthetic and gameplay could be explored and discussed at length. The chief concern of this discourse, for now, will direct its attention to borrowing. The reason that Gears is part and parcel with its universe, uniting both aesthetic and gameplay, is because it was designed as such. Yet, examine a game like Drake's Fortune or Metal Gear Solid 4. Both of these games borrowed the mechanics of Gears, either in small part or large part.

Is the eponymous character of Drake's a marine in a world that is dominated by war? Conversely, the world of Solid Snake, in MGS 4, does bear some similarity to the world of Gears. This highlights a point of discussion, as we seek to define a broader language for games and interactive play. A type of gameplay may be borrowed, augmented, or transmuted, if it fits the form and narrative. It is no secret that the mechanics of Metal Gear Solid 4 benefited greatly from the inclusion of the Gears influence.

Now we may turn our focus to other games. The Force Unleashed may be described as a standard 'hack 'n slash' game, with 'magic' abilities. However, one must examine the point of this game, as displayed in the title. Force Unleashed. Those words connotate Yoda's words (part of Star Wars canon) in the Empire Strikes Back: 'my ally is the Force...and a powerful ally it is.' The trailers and promotional material for this game highlight the Force, the very life-breath of the game's universe, being taken to the limit.

In order to deliver on this promise, one must devise a way to tell this story that reflects this rather large theme. The use of the Force should be as integrated into the game as Gears' own roadie run and cover mechanics. However, the Force Unleashed borrows heavily from preexisting and codified concepts in its 'genre' (action-adventure), with button combos and 'magic attacks.' The Force, which is the life-breath of this game and its reason above all, falls short and is shackled by a resource measurement.

These concepts - the life bar and resource bar, and the combo based hack and slash - are holdovers from a previous era in which the technology had to be stretched in a way that could not a) tell the story in a cohesive form and aesthetic of gameplay and b) match the realism of a moving visual world.

One may argue that the Force Unleashed suffered from this viewpoint.

The game, frustrating in its mechanical execution, exacerbates the pain of playing by dwelling utterly meaningless sections of gameplay. Never, while I am Starkiller, do I feel as if I am the envoy of the Force, the sieve through which this incredible universe-constructing power flows. It is a failure of form, purported by its borrowing from previous material.

The gameplay as aesthetic, if it does exist, is quite poor. this is akin to a movie being told in a visual way that is completely unstimulating and does not engage the viewer.

By focusing on the formal elements of gameplay mechanics and design, and paying close attention to the marriage between the aforementioned and the aesthetic of the universe, we may come closer to the holy grail we've been chasing for forty years.

A Blog for Forward-Thinking Game Designers and Scholars

The medium of video games is a remarkably mysterious one. Even now, 46 years since the first video game was created, we have barely begun to understand the art of video game design. Universities are only beginning to adopt interactive media as an area of study, and the industry is currently doing little experimentation with games. And yet, if there is any art form right now that needs studying and experimentation, it is that of interactive media.

This blog is for forward-thinking game designers and game scholars who want to explore this medium, to discuss it, to work towards establishing principles of effective game design, and to help legitimize the art form. We believe that games can be as emotionally gripping and powerful as literature and film, and our goal is to unlock this potential.

It's our move. Let's begin.