Design from the past
This section contains analysis and considerations about games of old days that I still consider valuable and interesting from a game design perspective.
If you didn't play the games that are mentioned here...well, you should!
If you didn't play the games that are mentioned here...well, you should!
The first three games I am putting in this section are great classics from Sony PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube.
More will be added in the next weeks. Have a nice trip in the past!
More will be added in the next weeks. Have a nice trip in the past!
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Ico (PS2, 2002)
Ico is 3D action adventure game designed by Fumito Ueda for the PS2, where the player controls Ico, a boy trapped in a mysterious fortress he needs to escape from.
It is one of my favourite games because it did something probably no other game did to me before: made me feel attached to the game characters via gameplay and game mechanics, rather than stunning graphics or cut-scenes.
In my opinion, the majority of videogames try to promote attachment to the game characters with events that occur during the cut-scenes of the game, when the player has no control on the events.
In Ico the player gets attached to Yorda, the mysterious girl he runs into at the beginning of the game, mainly thanks to a game mechanic: the necessity to hold Yorda's hand while navigating the environment, to make her move faster and generally keep her safe from harm.
To achieve that the player needs to keep a button pressed while moving around, thus creating a connection between the action of the player, who holds the button on the controller, and the action of his character, that holds the hand of Yorda.
The fact that throughout the game you need to take care in an almost 'physical way' of Yorda, creates a distinctive bond between the player and Yorda, for she is defenseless and needs to be protected, and between the player and Ico,who acts as the 'bridge' from the player to Yorda.
In my opinion, few games succeed in evoking through emotions in the players, and Ico is one of them.
It is one of my favourite games because it did something probably no other game did to me before: made me feel attached to the game characters via gameplay and game mechanics, rather than stunning graphics or cut-scenes.
In my opinion, the majority of videogames try to promote attachment to the game characters with events that occur during the cut-scenes of the game, when the player has no control on the events.
In Ico the player gets attached to Yorda, the mysterious girl he runs into at the beginning of the game, mainly thanks to a game mechanic: the necessity to hold Yorda's hand while navigating the environment, to make her move faster and generally keep her safe from harm.
To achieve that the player needs to keep a button pressed while moving around, thus creating a connection between the action of the player, who holds the button on the controller, and the action of his character, that holds the hand of Yorda.
The fact that throughout the game you need to take care in an almost 'physical way' of Yorda, creates a distinctive bond between the player and Yorda, for she is defenseless and needs to be protected, and between the player and Ico,who acts as the 'bridge' from the player to Yorda.
In my opinion, few games succeed in evoking through emotions in the players, and Ico is one of them.
Ikaruga (GC, 2003)
Ikaruga is a shoot'em'up that I played on my Gamecube several years ago. To be more precise, Ikaruga is one the hardest game I ever played, a true hardcore game, designed to test the reflexes of those passionate enough to face the frustration that arise when playing it.
The reason I love this game is that it achieves its goal of being a fantastic and totally hardcore shoot'em'up by destroying the basic rule of the genre it belongs to: the power-up system. Unlikely all the other shooters, in Ikaruga there are no power-ups like rapid, double or triple fire, homing missiles, extra speed, shields or whatever. You only have normal fire and a color based mechanic that allows you to switch the color of your ship from black to white: if you're black, you absorb black fire and get killed by white hazards. If you're white you absorb white fire and get killed by black stuff. Enemies and hazards can be white or black as well, thus generating a gameplay based on the memorization of color patterns and the development of ninja like control skills, that the game supports by offering a slow-mo game mode to help the player 'studying' levels before testing his skills at normal game speed.
Ikaruga is a demonstration of how a genre can be refreshed subtracting features and modifying basic mechanics, rather then adding new options or contents. It is a great example of intelligent and creative game design, in my opinion.
The reason I love this game is that it achieves its goal of being a fantastic and totally hardcore shoot'em'up by destroying the basic rule of the genre it belongs to: the power-up system. Unlikely all the other shooters, in Ikaruga there are no power-ups like rapid, double or triple fire, homing missiles, extra speed, shields or whatever. You only have normal fire and a color based mechanic that allows you to switch the color of your ship from black to white: if you're black, you absorb black fire and get killed by white hazards. If you're white you absorb white fire and get killed by black stuff. Enemies and hazards can be white or black as well, thus generating a gameplay based on the memorization of color patterns and the development of ninja like control skills, that the game supports by offering a slow-mo game mode to help the player 'studying' levels before testing his skills at normal game speed.
Ikaruga is a demonstration of how a genre can be refreshed subtracting features and modifying basic mechanics, rather then adding new options or contents. It is a great example of intelligent and creative game design, in my opinion.
Eternal Darkness (GC, 2002)
Another game I would like to mention is Eternal Darkness, a horror action-adventure game released in 2002 by Silicon Knights.
The aspect that I liked most of its design is the so called 'breaking up of the fourth wall' feature. The game implements a 'sanity meter' that represent the loss of grip of the controlled characters on the reality they are immersed into. As the characters face the horrors of the game, their sanity bar empties. As the bar empties, special effects are added to the scene, like blood flowing on the screen, whispers coming from nowhere and and skewed camera angles.
If the sanity bar gets really low, strange things happen to the characters AND to the player as well. The game controls stop responding to player's input, fake system error messages appear on screen, the controlled character is changed with a monster, and so on.
I think that this specific feature of Eternal Darkness represents a very smart design choice to support the suspension of disbelief of the game and to put the player in the same shoes of the characters he controls. When things go bad, both the characters and the player start feeling 'strange'.
The first Metal Gear Solid for the PS did something similar during the Psycho Mantis boss fight, where the player needed to switch the control port of the joypad to prevent the enemy from 'reading his mind'. But in Eternal Darkness this mechanic is not a 'one shot design idea', it is a fundamental aspect of the game from the beginning, thus pushing forward the extent of such immersion-supporting technique.
The aspect that I liked most of its design is the so called 'breaking up of the fourth wall' feature. The game implements a 'sanity meter' that represent the loss of grip of the controlled characters on the reality they are immersed into. As the characters face the horrors of the game, their sanity bar empties. As the bar empties, special effects are added to the scene, like blood flowing on the screen, whispers coming from nowhere and and skewed camera angles.
If the sanity bar gets really low, strange things happen to the characters AND to the player as well. The game controls stop responding to player's input, fake system error messages appear on screen, the controlled character is changed with a monster, and so on.
I think that this specific feature of Eternal Darkness represents a very smart design choice to support the suspension of disbelief of the game and to put the player in the same shoes of the characters he controls. When things go bad, both the characters and the player start feeling 'strange'.
The first Metal Gear Solid for the PS did something similar during the Psycho Mantis boss fight, where the player needed to switch the control port of the joypad to prevent the enemy from 'reading his mind'. But in Eternal Darkness this mechanic is not a 'one shot design idea', it is a fundamental aspect of the game from the beginning, thus pushing forward the extent of such immersion-supporting technique.