Metal Gear Solid for the original PlayStation was one of the first games I played that had a very classic game design but with mechanics not possible with previous technology. When looking at Metal Gear Solid what game would most people say it has the most in common with? Most likely they would answer with Ubisoft's Tom Clancy's: Splinter Cell, yes it still has Tom Clancy's name attached and yes they did buy it. While that answer is not incorrect, they are both stealth games or they both used to be that is but once you look passed the tools that Snake has it his disposal and look at how Kojima directs the player through the game world it is clear to see that its simply a distant cousin of Doom. Wait, what?
I know, you are shocked right now. How can this be? You are not on Mars killing demons with a BFG in Metal Gear, you are slowly walking passed a doorway, hiding under a cardboard box or breaking cloned soldiers necks. Did you ever wonder why you are knocking out unsuspecting guards unconscious? Here is the kicker you are doing it for the same reasons you are blasting demons and other crazy creatures in Doom, key cards.
The driving force behind the direction of the player in both games is unlocking the next area, in Doom it is shoot your way through enemies to obtain the key and in Metal Gear the player is given the choice, sneak passed enemies, take a few out, maybe go Rambo and make things extremely complicated for yourself. It is classic game design enhanced by the advancement of technology allowing for the advanced mechanics that Metal Gear solid posses such as enemies able to see the players footprint and follow them throughout the snow, and players being able to knock on objects to make noise to distract or grab the attention of an enemy. This form of design keeps the player in a constant mindset of exploration, the searching for keys or anything for that matter in order to advance the player to a new area, maybe give them a new gameplay feature once this searching is complete, or introduce enemies that offer more of a challenge, is a design that in today's games has changed dramatically. What is it that has caused designers to move away from the locked door or better yet caused them to fear it?
Today's game design has become a huge contrast between two extremes or a dance intertwining both, either large wide open environments or narrow corridors, alleyways, hallways, you get the point. These narrow areas have now replace the key cards in gaming, players fight or shoot their way through these extended doorways that lead to a more expansive area, essentially their hands are being held. Instead of finding the key, exploring this world on there own they are being given the key and having the door held open for them. There was a lot of negative talk coming out Japanese developers about the games being made in their part of the world mainly because of production value and not being able to grab the attention of American users that are knee deep in shooter after shooter after shooter that all hold the players hand throughout the experience, even in multi player the player is rewarded for everything, how far they run is a great example of something that should not reward experience in a game. What has become serious business in video games has also become a lack of innovation and creativity, Call of Duty, Battlefield, Medal of Honor, how are these games coming out every year and remaining successful? Because in big business there is no room for making a player think and experience a unique story, it is now about how much content can they offer and at what price will players pay for it.
These questions have been raised for sometime now by aging gamers but need to be brought to the for front after watching Electronic Arts live conference earlier today at Gamescom followed by Sony's live conference at the same event. Both showed big business games of explosions and gun fire but shown from Sony Computer Entertainment Japan were two uniquely different games looking to recreate game design with new experiences rather than replacing locked doors and objectives with a path of hallways one must simply walk down. Games are striving for realism now more than ever but why award people for things that they should do? Walking or running a certain distance? Maybe that is why kids do not go outside anymore, there is no one giving them exp for doing so. Enjoy the trailer for two innovative games that I cannot wait to get my hands on, Rain and Puppeteer.
What you said about 2 different design types large open landscapes and close corrodes, I wanted to ask you do you think thats how it should be? Or is it the fact that the game developers have a gameplay style they want to keep throughout the game and the level designs have to fallow it so thats why its usually one or the other. I feel that games are getting to a point where there will be multiple paths in all games so that the player can choose wether he or she goes around the town int he open fields or they go through the town and play at their preferred play style.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to large open landscapes and narrow corridors or a hybrid of the two I believe it all goes base don the design, the emotion the story is trying to portray, and the experience the level designer is trying to convey. Choice is great in games, giving the player the option to go through open fields or through a town is something that I believe should not be added to cater to all players play styles but should be added if it fits the designers intent. There are many different ways to achieve certain feelings in a game, a great way to think of new ways to pull off basic emotions is to research dreams and their meanings. People are fascinated by their dreams, why? Because when they wake up it felt real, in a single player campaign when designing certain areas it is best to take the emotion to its most basic idea. Example Doom was a corridor shooter for a reason, to make the player nervous, to have them push forward but always feel tension as if the walls were closing in on them. Different designs require different methods but always nail the design first, get basic feelings and emotions for the single player, then begin to expand them to a point that if you can vision different paths for certain play styles and it works with your mechanics and genre try it, see if you can convey the same emotions while still keeping the player immersed in the world.
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