LEVEL 3.5: “Be safe, friend. Don’t you dare go Hollow!” Progress report.
Horror is about trying to understand the things that we do not wish to face and about surviving that face-off.
Disclaimer: This article came out a bit different than the average article in this series. I originally wanted to write about how I was going to keep track of progression in the horror RPG game that I am working on, but… The article became something else in the process… This is a fair warning to those who are used to the regular structure that my articles have.
In my last article, I wrote about using Experience Points (XP) to track character progression in games. But, now, as always, after writing a piece on the theory I have to decide how am I going to use all that theory in practice when designing my own game.
Thus the time has come for me to decide what am I going to use in my own game to track character progression.
1. WHAT you reward Experience Points for is more important than WHETHER you use Experience Points in the first place.
In most RPGs the player characters start out quite weak. They have only the most basic of abilities, no weapons and no ways to influence the game world.
In short, they are pretty shit.
The players wish for their characters to change and become stronger. So that the players can get and use cool weapons, flashy abilities and change the game world how they see fit.
What that means is that players are going to be willing to do whatever is necessary to get those things.
To get all that cool stuff players have to do certain actions that reward them with XP or another type of resource — resources that the players can use later to buy new stuff, unlock new abilities etc.
The job of the game developer is to figure out what player actions should be rewarded with XP. This is an important task because this decision is going to determine what the players are going to be doing the most in-game. If the players won`t do these actions then they won’t be able to gain the XP/resources they need to get what they want for their characters.
2. An example using the popular tabletop RPG “Dungeons & Dragons”:
In one of my very first articles, I wrote about Jared Sorensen‘s famous “The Big Three” questions. The point of these questions is to help designers focus on what their game is going to be about and they are as follows:
- What is the experience you want your players to go through in the game?
- How is the game mechanically reinforcing the above-mentioned experience?
- How will you motivate the players to interact/use the above-mentioned mechanics?
Let’s use these questions to figure out what the popular RPG “Dungeons & Dragons” (DnD) is about so that I can show you an example of how not to determine the actions that players should be rewarded for doing.
What is the experience you want your players to go through in the game?
The designers of the game will try to persuade you that “DnD” is a game about creating a fantasy story, exploring a fantasy world and role-playing as fantasy character archetypes.
Ok, fine! How does the game help me to do that as a player?
How is the game mechanically reinforcing the above-mentioned experience?
Well… If “DnD” wants me to create and explore a fantasy world then the game`s manual should be full of rules how to do that. Yet, that is not the case.
The game`s manual mostly consists of a lot of rules for combat mechanics. Loot tables. Pages and pages of descriptions for monsters. Character abilities that help you kill stuff and the likes. + How to create your war machine… I ment character.
To make matters worse, not only is the game lacking mechanics that will help the players create an experience that the game promises they will be able to create, the game also rewards you for doing actions that aren’t related to the experience that the game is trying to create.
In short, the game also motivates you to do the opposite of role-playing etc.
How will you motivate the players to interact/use the above-mentioned mechanics?
Since “DnD” is about role-playing and exploring a fantasy world, then the game should reward players for doing those things. Finding cool stuff and lore, portraying interesting character archetypes. Right?
Yes, but “D&D” doesn`t do that. It rewards you for killing stuff. Simple as that. To finish an adventure you need to defeat a boss monster. To get to a milestone, usually, your obstacles are monsters that need to be killed… so on and so on.
The game designers can try to persuade us that the game is about exploring a fantasy world. But based on the actual rules found in the game`s manual, the game is actually about killing stuff, taking loot from the corpses inorder to use that loot to kill even bigger stuff. Rinse and repeat.
As a side note: This does not mean that people can`t enjoy “DnD”. They can, especially if they like… killing… stuff…
But to enjoy the game in the way it was intended to be enjoyed, the players have to come up with “house rules”. That is not right. It is not the player’s job to design the game for the designers.
3. What player actions should be rewarded in the horror game I am working on?
Ok, I hope that the “D&D” example was able to illustrate why it is important to think about what actions you are going to be rewarding in your game and what will you use to keep track of that progression.
The “DnD” designers got lucky since the game can still be enjoyable, by being a… “genocide machine”… it does go well with the epic fantasy theme “DnD” has (watch the following video).
But the designers can`t rely on luck and only state that a game is going to be about “X”. They actually have to create the mechanics that will help the payers to experience “X”.
Since I am designing a horror role-playing game I have to ask myself, what actions should be rewarded in a horror RPG to motivate the players to keep experiencing/doing the things I wish them to experience/do in the game?
4. Horror is about trying to understand the things that we do not wish to face and about surviving that face-off.
In my opinion, the horror genre is good for two things:
- Showing people that we can survive horrific things. That the struggle alone is valuable.
- That there is more to a person than meets the eye. That we should strive to understand one another and ourselves rather than living by assumptions and thinking we are privileged, everyone else is bellow us.
I believe that player actions that lead to surviving horrific events and understanding them should be encouraged.
How is horror about any of those things? Isn`t it all about blood splatters, torture porn, and jumpscares?
Sure, it can be, but that is not the type of horror experience I wish to create for the players of my game. I think we have enough games that have torture porn and jumpscares in them.
I personally like to watch, read, play content of the horror genre because they remind me that I should not give up on fighting my depression, that I can survive it. That it is worth the time to try and understand other people and their problems. That my problems are real and are not less important than the problems other people have, vice versa.
I would like to try and give other people the chance to experience such feelings as well since most horror games have strived away from those types of experiences.
To show that I am not the only person who thinks this way. + To give you some actual examples of this concept, I am going to talk about two products that represent these ideas very well: the cult classic game “Dark Souls” and Guillermo del Toro`s newest horror/romance movie “The Shape of Water”.
Survival comes from “Dark Souls”
Disclaimer: I have to start by saying that the “Dark Souls” games are not horror games. They have horror elements in them, but the reason why I am using a non-horror game franchise as an example for my concept is that these games are very popular. There is a big chance that the readers of his article might know this game and because of that might have an easier time to relate to what I am going to write about.
Many content creators on Youtube, podcasts, news journals have published many pieces that discuss how “Dark Souls” has helped them or people they know to deal with a mental illness.
The content I related to the most was where Youtubers shared their own battles with depression in particular (because I suffer from that same illness) and how this game helped them cope with their issues. Like the many videos, ParagonDS has published on the topic or the “Because Games Matter” series from “Extra Credits”.
A Youtuber named Nevyn a.k.a. Fork and Hamish Black from “Writing on Games” made videos where they explained how “Dark Souls” is a great allegory about the struggle that people with mental illnesses have to face every day. I wish to show you this allegory.
In short. (yeah, right)
In the “Dark Souls” universe there is a curse that makes reanimated people (the undead) including us the protagonist to become Hollow — it is a degenerative state where the person has lost any ounce of free will. They are drained of any motivation and humanity.
Similar to the effect that depression can have on peoples.
In his, video Nevyn talks about his friend Rob who suffers from depression and who has come up with a personal definition of what depression is:
Depression is fighting the same battle over and over again with less drive each time to continue the fight .
“Dark Souls” affirms for the player the struggle that they face in their real lives. The struggle to not become Hollow.
The Hollow make their own choices
As the chosen undead you can make a choice. You can either give up on your quest and succumb to depression or in-game-terms allow the “Age of Dark” to come forth. Or…
…You can keep pushing forward and fight to eventually sacrifice yourself in order to extend the “Age of Fire”.
This symbolizes the choice that many people who suffer from mental illnesses have to make, but in the end, it is a choice that THEY have to make.
The Hollow don`t have to fight alone
There are two ways how players usually tackle the game. They either play it by themselves, putting trust in their own strengths, not wanting to be a burden to others.
Just like many people with depression do. They chose to suffer alone. Or…
They can ask other players to help them. To share the burden together. Thanks to the online capabilities of the game, players do not have to deal with everything by themselves.
This is similar to how people can ideally tackle depression in the real world. Together with others and there should be no shame in asking for help.
The game, of course, is not a completely realistic allegory to depression
Yet, one of the things in the game that is different from how mental illness (statistically) plays out in the real world is the fact that the NPCs of “Dark Souls” encourage the player to push on and not to give up no matter what the obstacle.
In real life, people with depression don`t necessarily have that kind of a support system. Even if they ask for help, people just don’t know how to help, which is understandable.
For example, the character Laurentius of the Great Swamp in the game genuinely cares for us and wants us to succeed. He even says to the protagonist at one point:
Be safe, friend. Don’t you dare go Hollow.
Don`t you dare succumb to depression! People in real life don`t hear that often enough. “Dark Souls” reminds us how important it is to have that support system.
In short…
From one perspective all of this is very sad, that people get this type of “help” only from a game and not from a real human being, but on the other hand… I am happy that we get to make and experience games like this — that can help people cope with mental illnesses.
Sure, there are still questions about “how much can “Dark Souls” really help people who struggle with mental illnesses.” “Can it help everyone?” “Can it be dangerous to specific people with specific mental illnesses?”
No matter the answers to those questions, I have to agree with what Hamish Black said at the start and conclusion of his own video:
[Dark Souls] is a celebration of life.
“Dark Souls” can ilustrate to us that it is okay to struggle. The struggle is a part of life. Since the strugle is real, it is valuable to be patient, to take your time. Even time spent reflecting is valuable, as long as you are making even the smallest of progress.
“Dark Souls” can show us that “suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem”. Now, I am not going to go into the morals of whether suicide is a cowards choice or not. That is not the point of the quote. The point is that we all can agree that people who suffer from a mental illness should be wary of making drastic choices and actions. Stop, reflect then act.
“Dark Souls” can teach us that we are not alone in this. That it is okay to ask for help. That there is a whole community that feels the same way about these issues.
“Dark Souls” also can make a person be grateful for what they have, that things could be worse. For example, you could have been born in Blighttown.
The people who benefited from playing “Dark Souls” needed an outlet where they could let loose all those unsaid words, feelings, and frustrations. A place to be themselves. To get some encouragement. To get some affirmation. To get some catharsis. “Dark Souls” was able to give them that outlet. I respect the game for that.
I hope that the game I am working on will be able to do the same thing but for the tabletop scene.
Understanding comes from “The Shape of Water”
My plan here was to use “The Shape of Water” as an example of why understanding and compassion are important themes in the horror genre, but since I have received a couple of messages stating that my most recent articles have been too long I am going to cut the article short here and I am going to make this part about Guillermo del Toro`s movies into its own review… probably…
Conclusion
How does all this about “Dark Souls” etc. relate to my design process? What does it have to do with tracking character progression in a horror game?
In short, if I wish to create a horror game that can allow players to create the type of experience I wish them to experience, then I need to reward actions that will lead to experiences like that.
In my second article of this series I stated what my game is going to be about:
The game is going to be about a disruption that happens in a community. The disruption forces the player characters to throw themselves in tense circumstances to confront the disruption, thus hopefully bringing life back to normal and achieving catharsis.
Thus, what type of player actions should I reward? In my opinion, any action that allows characters (NPCs) to survive those disruptions should be rewarded.
If you wish to get that cool weapon, then you will have to save that character. If you wish to unlock that ability then you will have to save members from that community, be brave and go in that dark place.
What this leads to is that… sure the players could kill the “disruption”, run from it etc., but the end metric is characters/people saved not obstacles killed. Killing is not saving, running away is only a temporary solution. Players will actually have to save the characters and themselves to progress further and get what they want.
Now that I have a metric, in the next article, I am going to concentrate on creating a whole reward system out of that metric.
