The best game I’ve ever played
ScoreHero! achieves many goals
With a very impressive rating of 4.6/5 over 100,000,000+ installs, Score! Hero is hard to ignore. When I played the game, I could see just why people love it so much. Using this as a template, I distilled 4Cs that are critical to enjoying a game.
Game development has always fascinated me. It is complex and draws on multiple disciplines including technology, psychology and art. I have deep admiration for studios that produce successful games. The quest to create that market grabbing product, the one product to rule-em-all, is the holy grail of product development. While I’m not a big player of computer games, I have downloaded some top trending games; and have also tried a decent range of games within my preferred genres (sports and strategy). To efficiently navigate the mind-boggling variety on offer at the Google Play Store, I use a three-step heuristic to select a game — look at screenshots, short description and rating.
It is difficult to compare games — unless of course comparing ‘like-for-like’ e.g. two sudoko games. Nevertheless, Score!Hero is the best game I’ve ever played and my new benchmark for delightful customer experience. It ‘wowed’ me at many levels — figuratively, emotionally and literally (it has over 300 levels). Why did I like it so much? Upon reflection, the following factors transpired.
Concept
Football games generally fit into three broad categories: match play, football manager and specific challenge. Match play genres replicate a football game and are typically about mastering controls to move, pass and, score goals. Football manager genres focus on tactics and team building, and have minimal or no match play. The third category is around specific ‘static’ challenges like penalty shots, hitting targets, free kicks etc. There are other hybrids and variants but these remain the broad categories.
Score!Hero turns these categories on their head.
It combines elements from all three and weaves them into a unique and original concept. It is basically a puzzle game which simulates pre-defined goal sequences. Our hero’s team is pitted against an opposition. The key events of the match are presented as scenarios that users need to execute. The aim is to play out the presented scenario by orchestrating the required movements, and the one final attempt on goal. It is similar to ‘chess puzzles’ where a player is in a situation and has to make a series of moves to achieve a particular outcome.
The concept is refreshingly unique.
Context
If the concept is unique, the context is well-grounded in reality. The ‘hero’ is fictitious in appearance (does not resemble any real player), but we can give him a name of our choice, thus emulating our real-life footballing icons. The hero also plays for real countries, real leagues and real clubs. Our real football heroes played for real clubs. If our [Score] hero played for fictional clubs, a vital link to reality would have been lost. Games are fiction but associations with reality increase their appeal. Score!Hero depicts the career of a footballing mega-star. It has three temporal contexts — overall (career), intermediate (season) and immediate (level or matchday). In the inaugural season, our hero is a talented and emerging teenager. In subsequent seasons, he rises to stardom, moves to bigger clubs, achieves super-stardom and eventually enters his veteran years.
This archetypal journey of a footballer’s career provides an omnipresent and realistic context for the game. It is the game’s most salient feature.
The journey of our hero, from start to finish, from nascent to mature, from rookie to superstar, and while facing both triumphs and disappointments, is something we can all relate to in more ways than one.
Challenge
The game lives up to its Play Store proclamation — “simple to play, tough to master”. Passes, movements and shots are accomplished by drawing lines on the screen. The controls are very simple. The challenge is to use them in different combinations to accomplish the target outcome for each level….except that the end-result is initially shrouded in mystery! Each level unfolds in a realistic manner — i.e. users are not aware of the final result or the number of sequences/goals required to successfully negotiate the level. Users are free to use their analysis, judgement and creativity to score the required goals to complete a level. I use the terms analysis and judgement to reflect the fact that the game engine is AI enabled. This works both ways. On one hand, this enables us to orchestrate ‘anticipated’ player runs. On the other hand, it also makes the opposition ‘smarter’ — goalkeepers attempt to save shots, opposition defenders intercept imprecisely executed passes etc. Each level has 3 target outcomes. Crucially, these are only revealed at the completion of the level. One star is sufficient to proceed. However, after the target outcomes are revealed, the real challenge lies in obtaining a perfect 3-star finish. Basically, users are allowed two attempts at solving the problem — ‘freestyle’ and ‘prescribed’.
The concept of challenge is redefined.
It is not longer a binary pass or fail. It is multi-dimensional — users can merely gain ‘pass marks’ and move on, or they can aim for ‘distinction’. Initially, I aimed to complete levels with a minimum of 2-star rating. However, once I had done that and completed all seasons, I returned to Season One — to start converting remaining 2-stars to 3-stars. Easy to play, difficult to master. I now had extra motivation to ‘master’ the game. If a 3 star system was not in place, I would never have revisited any level, thus reducing the ‘replay value’ of the game. Another thing I liked was the ‘bite-sized’ game play — we can complete just one level or a whole season at once, depending on how much or little time we want to spend on the game.
Complement
— things that “complete or make perfect”. While good gameplay is undoubtedly the crux for any game, supporting factors also play an important role.
When surrounding details are well-attended to, the overall experience improves. Conversely also, when these are neglected, it detracts value from the overall experience. Score!Hero wins here by using classic football magazine fonts (nostalgic value), appropriate sounds, good commentary, amusing newspaper copy for announcements, clear animation sequences and excellent graphics.
The basics are also well done — no typos, unresponsive buttons, minuscule icons, bugs etc. Meticulous attention to detail is evident at every level — in the background story, graphics, animation sequences, player frustration at missing shots, players beckoning for passes, uniforms etc. To provide an extra element of entertainment, some all-time classic goal celebrations are also replicated. When finer details are just as polished as the main gameplay, the experience become more authentic and more complete. The multimedia and aesthetics complement and supplement the game play.
I’ve played other games, also rated them 5/5 on Play Store, so what is special about Score!Hero? What makes it better than others? In terms of 4Cs presented above, I felt that context was the key differential. Score!Hero presented the game against a life-like backdrop. Providing this background, context, story, journey added a human dimension. It allowed me to relate with the game at an emotional level.
A key realization for me is that good design resonates with our values and emotions.
We aspire towards values like progress, creativity, achievement, excellence, heroism etc. We enjoy stories. We reflect on the triumphs, trials and tribulations of the various journeys (literal or metaphorical) we’ve undertake in life.
The more values, emotions and journeys a game relates to, or taps into, the better our experience.
