Have you ever bought a game that you were certain you were going to enjoy for weeks on end only to find yourself strangely disappointed? I'm sure most gamers have. This has happened to me dozens of times, and I've spent a good while each time trying to figure out why a seemingly solid game isn't actually fun to play.
What really makes a game fun anyways? Gameplay is the difference between a non-interactive experience like movies, television, or books, and the interactive entertainment of video games. It is not the story, theme, graphics or audio, although all of these elements can directly affect the gameplay. It is a culmination of rules, control, design, and challenge. It is how the game reacts to player input.
In this ongoing series of articles we will explore the aspects of this intangible, oft-indefinable core component of video games. In each chapter we will plumb the depths in a single, focused aspect of gameplay mechanics. Don't be upset if the merits and faults of your most loved and hated games aren't immediately touched upon.
Gameplay
Chapter 1 : Freedom
Part 1
"What do you mean by freedom?"
Freedom in a video game means different things to different people. To some, the term non-linear will spring to mind. To others it refers to sandbox-style open-world gameplay. Other gamers will recall unsatisfying game experiences when they were frustratingly unable to define just what a game was missing.
What we experience in games today is not true freedom, it is a freedom created and controlled by game developers. Sometimes a game will feel extremely limited and other times the possibilities set before us can seem endless. Developers create by hand the possibilities and choices within a game, or by permitting the player to use in-game tools to potentially create solutions never dreamt of by the developer. But sometimes a developer will rein in freedoms, artificially limiting what a player might otherwise do.
"Do developers go too far in limiting freedom?"
Cheating
"So you've unlocked that powerful new laser by completing the game, wow does it ever look neat! But what use is it? You just beat the game after all. No problem, play through again on hard, the game should be really easy with the laser! Wait... The game won't let you? You can only use the laser on difficulty settings you've completed the game on? Damn it..."
The view of developers towards cheating has changed radically over the years. Games used to have built-in codes that made all challenge virtually non-existent if you knew the right button combinations. Today these sort of in-game cheats are a rarity. Devices created purely for cheating came about, such as the Game Genie and Pro Action Replay, but now even these are often completely disabled at a hardware level. While a gamer might cheat to unlock achievement points, using external devices to cheat within gameplay is a rarity. Note : The analysis of cheating in multiplayer games will not be revealed until a future chapter when we will explore multiplayer gaming in general.
Logically if gameplay cheats are present they lock out any chances of getting achievements, trophies, or high scores on leaderboards. While the issue of eliminating cheats in a multiplayer environment isn't a concern to a clear-thinking gamer, eliminating cheats in single player may be diminishing the enjoyment of a select group of gamers. By giving players the freedom of choice in regards to cheating, developers can actually expand the play time of games. Resident Evil 5 allows you to play through the game on harder difficulties with more powerful weapons and unlimited ammo. It doesn't harm the gameplay in this case because not only does it take a good 30 to 40 hours to unlock these weapons in-game, but the hardest difficulties are virtually impossible without those tools at the players' disposal.
The view of cheating by developers and gamers is constantly evolving, and the future is not to be defined by any singular person. The goal of all involved should be to increase the enjoyment and longevity of games. While many believe that creating a subtle balance of difficulty may be our best hope, the concept of allowing players to break the rules shouldn't be ignored.
The Invisible Wall
"You're almost at the final boss, you can see him right there. All you have to do is jump up to that ledge and you're set! What? You can't jump to the ledge? Try jumping from the box over there. You still can't get up there? There seems to be an invisible wall blocking your way?"
One of the most well known gameplay faux pas is the invisible wall. 'Invisible walls' are created on purpose to keep characters from moving through walls, falling off ledges, or sometimes simply to keep players from finding a quicker route through a poorly designed level. While this tool's existence is absolutely necessary, occasionally game designers overuse this technique as an easy way to control player freedom. The solution to this problem in most cases is to logically consider where a player thinks he should logically be able to traverse.
While this concept plays into the idea of level design, which we will analyze next time on Gameplay, there are some outside instances that should be explored. When the visual design of a in-game area and gameplay design don't match up, developers will often use simple boundary barriers to limit player movement. Perhaps there was not sufficient communication between level designers and gameplay designers; perhaps testers finished an area too quickly and there was not time to change the visual components of the level design. These are mostly examples of sloppy design, but it can be understandable how such mistakes can be made.
Misuse of an invisible wall is always a mistake, players should be given visual cues as to where they may and may not go. If a developer doesn't want the player to be able to reach the ledge with a switch that finishes the area, they need to design obvious visual components to inform the gamer as to why exactly they can't go where they believe they can. This can be as simple as erecting a fence or wall to impede player progress. Often times the artistic design doesn't mesh well with the gameplay design of an area.
Other times, developers struggle to find a good solution to a game map that continues for miles but must end somewhere. If the game allows the player to traverse mountains and rivers, jump off cliff edges and fly, what natural obstacle could ever logically contain their movement? Perhaps the entire game should take place on an island? An elegant solution to this particular issue has yet to be found.
In upcoming parts of Gameplay - Freedom we will analyze the concept of level design, look to the future of freedom in games, and also bring to light the dangers of giving a player too much freedom. Stay tuned to BonusEXP.com and Bitmob for this continuing series.
