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Posted on 04.12.07 by Mike K @ 5:52 am
I think it’s an important direction and discussion for game design. Sure, as a gamer, I can handle complicated control schemes. I’ve done my time and held my own in hotkey crazy RTS’s, twitch FPS’s, and I can be pretty menacing in Tony Hawk. But most of these games aren’t getting any easier. I don’t even care to finish Tony Hawk’s Project 8, or the Underground games, because the things you need to do at the end are ridiculous. Some gamers like to mock Diablo because of it’s insanely simple control scheme, even your mom can play it (mine does). I’ve been in awe for a number of years by some of my purist friends and associates who wouldn’t even justify it as an RPG for that very reason (reason 12 why genre’s hurt designers). Then it seemed the world forgot. Some 9 years later, Fate comes out. It plays just as well as it’s inspiration, and it’s more approachable. You can’t say that for any games in between. It’s almost like the game industry hard on for 3D graphics and difficulty is starting to calm it’s ass down. Actually, what happened instead was the polar opposite distinctly emerged. Casual games. Short, easy games you can play for hours, if they so compel you. AKA: Match 3’s, stacking games, sorting games, and brick busters. Some of them look really nice. The Wii happened too. The secret theoretical solution to FPS’s on the console, since we’re apparently too ignorant to support mouse and keyboard. I don’t know about other people, but for me the dust has certainly settled over the Wii. I still care for the platform for it’s ideals of smaller fun games, but the novelty of motion control has worn off on me. Red Steel isn’t an FPS, it’s a free moving Rail Shooter. That’s a heck of a lot more complicated to play than an FPS. Blast Factor for the PS3’s use of motion control is just a stupid gimmick at best. Call of Duty or Far Cry on the Wii I hadn’t had the chance to try yet, but I imagine the pointing box you need to restrict yourself to doesn’t make it any easier than Mouse+Keyboard. So as I see it, the problem isn’t our joysticks, crappy motion sensors, mouse sensitivity, or lack of buttons. It’s that we’re not using them well enough. Many of the fondest memories of games many of us have are of game experiences full of simplifications. Pacman didn’t have to spin or strafe turning a corner; Megaman didn’t have to reload and find the rocket ammo to recharge his rockets; I didn’t have to hit forward, back rolling down to forward, back again for 2 seconds, then forward and punch while holding the R trigger to throw Ryu’s fireball; Or wait, there’s a parachute button? And Scorpion’s Fatality in MK1 was “block” and up twice. What other fatalities does anyone remember? My mom, the typical hardcore casual gamer, should be able to pick up and play a perceptively intense action game, and she should be able to do some incredible things in it. There’s a way out there she can play a Gunstar Heroes. And there’s a reason out there why she’d play it too, and it ain’t pretty flowers and butterflies for graphics. Why not? Filed under: Stuffing and Opinion and Design Comments:
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That’s not Scorpion’s fatality. It’s just up-up. It’s much classier to do it landing from a jump. Besides, Reptile won’t appear if you use block. What other fatalities? ALL of them!! From MK1, that is. How could you forget fwd-fwd-fwd-fwd-fwd-ad-nauseum-HP? And smack it harder and faster and time it just right to knock off multiple heads? Can’t believe they turned that into a specific special move in later MKs. I do actually remember every fatality and move from that game. It helped that there were only 7 characters, and no more than 4 or 5 special moves (counting fatalities) each, and all the normal moves were shared (though with quirks in use).
I’m shocked at what P8 is trying to make me do. I just got it last week and there are goals in the first level I can’t do to Sick rank. It was an interesting idea to combine all the difficulties like that, but when I see what has to be done for Sick mode right there in the list, I feel like I have to go for that. I never could finish Sick mode in the THUG games, so this is a bad design decision. Also, I really hate the goals of “grind here, then here, then here, then here… (repeat for about 8 miles of terrain)”. That’s not Tony Hawk. That’s “don’t screw up”. Tony Hawk is an open playfield and 2 minutes to use the tricks at your disposal to get a high score. I also enjoy the finding stuff goals, but when you’re told exactly what to do and can’t make any mistakes, it’s stupid.
Especially when it is both an insanely hard thing to do and even - in the very first level! - involves ‘breaking’ the game’s physics! The goal that says to grind down a seesaw then hop up the wall and grind a tree branch literally requires you to defy physics right there. And it seems to be completely random exactly what happens when you hit the branch. That’s the goal I’ve only gotten to Am. You’d think they would explicitly avoid including goals that show off flaws in their physics. There’s another one later in the school level where every time I got to a certain point and had to side jump to a new rail, I’d hit the wall strangely and magically end up moving the opposite direction at full speed. On the plus side, at least they don’t intend you to do that, but it’s still a goal that puts a flaw in the physics right in your face (did that never happen to the testers?).
Done bitching about P8. But it felt good. I do think simplification of controls is a primary goal. It’s one of mine for sure.
Comment by Hamumu — April 12, 2007 @ 11:12 am
I agree somewhat with this, but just some food for thought…
I’ve heard of Fate, but who else has? Really? Even if it is a moderately popular indie game, it pales in popularity and awareness, in comparison to the real Diablo games. Granted, that was far simplified from Nethack, but perhaps there is a good middleground, eh?
Also, Megaman is not a good example for that paragraph, because you DID have to get weapon recharges. In fact, the MM games were far more difficult - less accessible, that is - than most platformers/shooters of today, especially the insane first game. Unless you were being sarcastic or something, in that case, *woosh*.
Also, demanding a Battlestar Galactica or even 24-level video game pretty much is a hardcore endeavor - they’re examples of high budget production excellence in television, with complex storylines and character arcs that demand more of the average viewer, and they have been rewarding in that sense. What you’re advocating is more akin to begging for more Two and a Half Men, which, while one of the most successful sitcoms on television, is not really something I want to see more of.
Comment by Anonymous — April 14, 2007 @ 6:11 am
[…] Somewhat obscure indie blog Too Normal, which is run by Puffbomb creator Mike Kasprzak, has a nice post on ’simplification’ as a movement for video game. […]
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