Keeping It Simple
The big budget triple A games can be fantastic. They have huge teams backing them, allowing for the use of the latest and greatest tech. Graphics are slick and always pushing to look better than everyone else. Plus, you know everybody who’s anybody is going to be talking about them in your circle of gaming friends/podcasts/blogs/forums.
Often when I sit down to play one, I will end up spending several hours in front of my TV or computer working my way through it. Sometimes, this can lead to a strange mental block right before I get started. Since I know I will inevitably spend a lot of time playing one of these games once I start, it can be a little intimidating.
Like a lot people out there, gaming is just a hobby. I have a day job and a family which take priority. Writing for WingDamage, podcasting, and playing video games (the past-time that lead to the previous two) is secondary at best.
When the affairs of the day are all said and done, it’s rapidly approaching a self-imposed “bed time”, but I still want to relax with a game before calling it a day, I find myself, more often than not, gravitating towards simple games; games like Peggle or Pac-Man: Championship Edition instead of Monster Hunter Tri or Uncharted 2. Going into a gaming experience knowing I will need to commit a large chunk of time to fully enjoy it can make me apprehensive about booting it up.
This isn’t to say that starting on of one of the afore mentioned “simple games” doesn’t often lead to long play sessions, but I end up feeling more relaxed about the whole situation going in.
I recently read an article by Jeffrey L. Wilson titled “Confessions of a Dumb Gamer” (which inspired this article), in which he talks about his feelings on why he prefers simple games over big budget titles. I agree with a lot of what he is saying. We are gamers because we enjoy the medium. The division between levels of coredom are inherently idiotic. I have no problem telling fellow gamers about what Mr. Wilson refers to as a “dumb game” with as much enthusiasm as I would a big budget title.
So what helps my enjoyment of the big bockbuster games and makes booting them up less intimidating for me?
Save Anywhere
In this day and age, there is no excuse for your game to have save points. If my wife and I decide, spur of the moment, to head out and go do something else, or realize that we have to leave now to hit the pet store before they close, making me walk ten minutes to the nearest save point is unacceptable.
People are busy these days, and if I know I can leave at a moments notice without losing a ton of progress, I am much more likely to want to play a particular game.
Skippable Cut Scenes
This is a huge point of contention for me in any game. RPG’s may have made it mainstream by pushing for shinier cinematics, but when you force me to sit through them when I only have a few minutes to play, it can lead to a lot of frustration.
While I personally enjoy watching them when I have the time, I know many gamers who don’t care about the story in any game ever. They will always skip your painstakingly rendered story content, developers. It is just the way things are.
Frequent Check Points
Being able to save anywhere is important. Almost equally important are frequent checkpoints. In the 8 and 16-bit eras, it was the norm for me to have to replay entire levels from making a single mistake.
If that happens in a modern game, it is usually when I shut it off; either for an extended period of time, or forever. It depends on just how frustrating the lead up was.
Uncharted 2 is an excellent example of a game with good checkpoints. They aren’t every step of the way, but they are frequent enough that you don’t feel completely destroyed by making a mistake. This leads to me wanting to take chances and be more bold with my exploration of a game’s world; knowing I wont be punished for doing so if things go badly.
I’m sure there a lot of other things out there that could be mentioned (feel free to do so in the comments). This isn’t meant to be a list of gripes against developers on modern gaming, just some random thoughts on what I am personally motivated to play through.
Tags: Casual Games, Editorials, Monster Hunter Tri, Pac-Man: Championship Edition, peggle, save points, Uncharted 2
This entry was posted on Friday, July 30th, 2010 at 12:45 pm and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
July 31st, 2010 at 8:34 am
Pippin Barr says:I appreciate the general point about the “intimidation” barrier with the larger games (even now I am quietly avoiding both Bioshock 2 and Final Fantasy XIII in favour of replaying bits of Limbo).
On the other hand, I think the “rules” you’re suggesting are a little too much. Perhaps as rules of thumb, they’re largely applicable, but I don’t think it’s the case they apply all the time. In particular, to the extent that developers view what they’re making as art (as well as or even instead of entertainment), they might well forego “save anywhere”, “skippable cut-scenes”, and “frequent check-points” to get across a particular aesthetic.
So, often those ideas are well and good, but I don’t think they can be a de facto standard for fear of diluting or even eliminating important artistic moments in the games we play.
August 5th, 2010 at 10:10 am
Wait...what? says:I am with you on the casual games. They cost less, are much easier to master, and are (usually) more innovative.
I still remember back in 1998 when I was playing the PC version of FFVII. I spent several hours hacking through various areas (I wasn’t very good at the game) and lost all the progress I had made because I died before I could find a save point. To this day, I die a little whenever I think about it.