<\/span><\/p>\n Here are the games (the ordering\u00a0is meaningless):<\/p>\n Sopora<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I Contemplated the Sun of Limbo<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The Dead Rest Beneath Us<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Le Ver<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Sunk<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Persona<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I Remember Alice<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Drowning in Problems<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Beneath the Surface<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n A Happy Place<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Most of you are probably aware of the ongoing \u2018video-games as an art form\u2019 debate<\/a>. If not, I recommend you go read up on it, particularly Roger Ebert\u2019s arguments<\/a>.\u00a0The whole debate revolves around how gaming as a medium compares to traditional media of expression. In my opinion, the question is usually tackled from the wrong angle. We shouldn\u2019t ask- how can we create a game that retells \u2018Romeo and Juliet\u2019\u00a0and does a good job of it? Instead we should be asking- how can we harness the power of video-games to create unique experiences unparalleled in other media? This power I\u2019m talking about is, of course, interactivity. The medium\u2019s undoing, according to Ebert, but I think otherwise. Jon Blow gave an interesting talk<\/a> about how we can harness gameplay as a powerful story-telling device. He talks about meaningful gameplay, which is deeply tied to the story. In fact, the gameplay should create the story. The key word here is immersion-\u00a0movies, books, and music all have their own ways of immersing the person experiencing them, but video games can do so much more! In video games, you can evoke a sense of agency, which in turn will make the player feel responsible for his actions. In video games, you can make the player feel\u00a0<\/strong>that he is his avatar in a much deeper sense than in other media, or indeed in most modern video games.<\/p>\n In the game \u2018Sopora<\/a>\u2018, you awaken to find yourself in a coffin. You can escape, panic and suffocate, kill yourself, etc. When you do any of these, you feel like you\u2019ve actually done something meaningful. Moreover, you don\u2019t feel bad for the avatar, as is the case in so many games, because you feel that you\u00a0are<\/strong>\u00a0your avatar. You experience the game through his eyes. The game uses powerful audio to create tension, but it only serves to amplify the experience created by the gameplay.<\/p>\n \u2018Sunk<\/a>\u2018 is another excellent example of this. You play as a man in the open sea, struggling to stay\u00a0afloat. One button only, and yet you feel responsible\u00a0when you drown. And just like in \u2018Sopora\u2019, when you screw up, you panic. You suffocate. And again, the sound effects and graphics are amplifiers, no more.<\/p>\n I loved both\u00a0\u2018I Remember Alice<\/a>\u2018 and \u2018Le Ver<\/a>\u2018 very much, but the reason I\u2019m mentioning them here is that they deviate from the pattern I\u2019m presenting with the other games. Both games\u00a0feature monotonous gameplay, and both make extensive use of text to deliver the story and the experience. The games lack in agency, but that is what makes the gameplay powerful. They stand out because their gameplay is tied strongly to the story. What I find interesting about them is that the gameplay, at least in my opinion, is an amplifier for the story, not the other way around. The experience is a sum of the various components- text, audio, visual feedback, gameplay. They create a cohesive whole that is very enjoyable and evocative. I\u2019d like to see more games like these, because they explore in a not-so-obvious direction, and that is invaluable to the developing medium of video games.<\/p>\n One of Ebert\u2019s main arguments is that games lack authorial control- if you give the player true agency, how can you walk him through a story-line? I find\u00a0it very interesting to approach this question in the context of theology, but I digress. Ebert is right. We can\u2019t guide the player through a linear story without limiting his freedom, and if we don\u2019t, it generally ends with disastrous results. Let\u2019s look at music- most songs don\u2019t tell any story, and what about melodies with no lyrics? In my opinion, games can\u2019t possibly tell stories like \u2018Romeo and Juliet\u2019 without devolving into lame movie-likes. Games like \u2018Sunk\u2019 and \u2018Sopora\u2019 are complete, and they are perfect examples of gameplay done right.<\/p>\n Responsibility:\u00a0In \u2018Beneath the Surface<\/a>\u2018, you play as a buff American soldier who commits atrocities in the name of democracy. And you control him. This control you have over him forces you to click the \u2018kill\u2019 button in order to progress. There is no agency. You don\u2019t feel responsible for your avatar\u2019s actions, and by the end of the game, you despise him. The game is interesting because it attempts to elicit strong moral responses from the players, and it succeeds, to some extent. Most people quit the game because they can\u2019t\u00a0bear press the \u2018kill\u2019 button any more. That\u2019s powerful. And yet, I think the game could benefit from a well thought-out choice mechanism. If players had a real choice, and chose to kill (which would happen a lot, I bet. Especially with the back-story provided in the game), they would really feel responsible for their actions. I can\u2019t help but think of the LD25 game, \u2018Cure 48<\/a>\u2018. Play it before you read the post-mortem<\/a>.<\/p>\n Speaking of morality, here\u2019s another game where you are made to feel bad: \u2018The Dead Rest Beneath Us<\/a>\u2018. Well, OK, it\u2019s not\u00a0meant<\/strong> to make you feel bad. In this game, you are presented with different scenarios where you must rescue a person in immediate danger. As opposed to \u2018Sunk\u2019, here you don\u2019t play the people in danger, which is a substantial difference. The idea behind this game is that you can\u2019t actually save any of them, which is why people end up feeling bad after playing it. I must say, it was very frustrating for me as well. So here we have another case where there is a lack of agency, but does it create a disconnect? Well, I didn\u2019t feel like I was responsible for the deaths of those people, but the game doesn\u2019t mean to make me feel responsible. Instead, is sets out to raise awareness to the transience of life. A lofty mission indeed. This is another example of an idea which can\u2019t possibly be executed in other media.<\/p>\n As we look at another game, \u2018Persona<\/a>\u2018, it seems\u00a0that the ultimate lack of agency is a recurrent theme. In this game, you control your avatar through dialogue choices in various social interactions. You are presented with a choice between 3 masks, each one representing a certain behaviour. However, if you use the wrong mask, it breaks and can no longer be used; instead you have the option of speaking your mind without any filters. The premise is interesting, and it definitely makes for an interesting gameplay mechanic, but the ending presumes that you have failed to use your masks at least once, when in fact, it is possible to complete the game without failing. This reminded me of the scene in \u2018Groundhog Day<\/a>\u2018 where Phil tries to get Rita in bed, so he memorizes her quirks and gets closer to his goal each day. However, he never succeeds. \u2018Persona\u2019 could be exactly this in game form, if it would be unbeatable. Notice what I\u2019m doing here- I\u2019m talking in favour of reducing the player\u2019s freedom and guiding him to an inevitable outcome.\u00a0However, I\u2019m not limiting his immediate choices, only his ultimate agency. This can lead to a very strong experience, albeit a frustrating one, where the player acts as one with his avatar, and feels like he has true agency, when in fact the outcome will always be the same.<\/p>\n Another game where this is the case is \u2018Drowning in Problems<\/a>\u2018. In this game, you play through a person\u2019s life to the inevitable, bitter end. But it\u2019s beautiful. I found myself in the part right before you can click to die, working and buying stuff indefinitely. The game is linear, and yet I feel like I have a choice. More importantly, the gameplay maps perfectly to what Notch wants us to feel from the titles of the actions. When I was clicking away, buying more and more stuff, avoiding the death button, I didn\u2019t feel like I was clicking in a game with the theme of life. This theme isn\u2019t artificially strapped on the gameplay- it is created by the gameplay.<\/p>\n \u2018A Happy Place<\/a>\u2018 is another game where you play through your avatar\u2019s demise. You play as a block, surviving in a wartime bunker. You walk around, cry some, eat, drink and sleep when you need to, while being constantly barraged with text. This text is the avatar\u2019s thoughts, and it contributes a lot to the experience, but it doesn\u2019t\u00a0create<\/strong> it. As I said in the comments, I wasn\u2019t sad when I died, because I knew it was inevitable, but the whole experience felt very real. Was it the audio? The visuals? The text? Maybe it was the gameplay? This one remains a mystery to me.<\/p>\n Last but not least, a game that scared the crap out of me- \u2018I Contemplated the Sun of Limbo<\/a>\u2018. As I said in the comments, my conclusion from this game is that I am fucking scary. What do I mean by that? Well, in this game, you control an avatar from a first person perspective, and you walk around on an\u00a0island. You dive and resurface on the other side of the island, you sit on a stool, and then you go back to the other\u00a0side. There you see a person sitting on a stool just like the one you sat on, and you suspect that he is actually some sort of vision of you. You interact with him and he explodes. Again, on the opposite side, you find the stool vacant. You sit on it, contemplating the sun of limbo, and then, while still on the stool, you turn around. You see the same figure standing behind you, exactly where you stood on the other side of the island when you disturbed him, and he pulls a slenderman. It\u2019s scary, and it made me think of how other people might be experiencing my presence. The game shines in its surrealism, which is a sum of the visuals, the audio, and indeed the gameplay. I\u2019m analyzing this game because it is completely different from the other games. When comparing these games to other media, most of them map roughly to movies or books in what they attempt to do. This one is a song. It\u2019s a spiritual experience. Now, a lot of people would classify all of these games as \u2018interactive experiences\u2019 and not games. While I disagree with this, I find it interesting how a very diverse array of games can all be classified under one category.<\/p>\n And now for something completely different- my game! You didn\u2019t actually think a post like this wouldn\u2019t be followed by some shameless self-promotion, did you? Well, actually, my game has a lot in common with these games, so I don\u2019t feel bad doing this<\/p>\n It\u2019s called \u2018A Day in the Life<\/a>\u2018. I urge you to go play it before reading on.<\/p>\n In this game, you control the individual actions in\u00a0your avatar\u2019s life. You set a certain period in your life where you learn programming, and in the following frames, the option of making a game is available. There are three objectives- \u2018Get a job\u2019, \u2018Be happy\u2019 and \u2018Start a family\u2019. To fulfill the job objective, you need to work (which requires that you learn programming), \u2018Be happy\u2019 requires that you learn the piano and make a game, and to start a family, you need to work and date. People figure all of this stuff out in the first couple of minutes of the game, and then they realize that the overall objective is to get all three objectives at the same time. They manage to get a job and be happy, and they manage to get a job and start a family, but they can\u2019t get all three. Most people realize this, and this is what I set out to do. I wanted people to realize that they can\u2019t get everything in life, and that they have to make choices. It doesn\u2019t matter if you quit the game with some objectives activated rather than others, there\u2019s no text or cutscenes to acknowledge your choices. The game ends in effect when the player realizes what the message is. A strong theme that I have noticed in people\u2019s playthroughs is that they get frustrated when they try to figure out the game. They attempt to solve it as if it were a puzzle, but it doesn\u2019t unfold. Now, this game doesn\u2019t tell a story, not does it evoke spiritual emotions. If I had to classify it, I\u2019d use the word that flrn used to describe his game, \u2018The Dead Rest Beneath Us\u2019 \u2013 vanitas<\/a>. Both our games aren\u2019t exactly games in that they are more static in nature, and would compare best to paintings.<\/p>\n I want to create a discussion surrounding the ideas that I have presented here, so I\u2019d love to read what you people have to say about this!<\/p>\n If I have offended anyone, please accept my apologies. I only mean to provide honest feedback and encourage discussion.<\/p>","time":"May 18th, 2014 10:14 am","title":"10 Games That Resonated With Me","title_was_empty":false}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/compo2\/342546\/30736-shot0.png\")
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