Exploration — A Word That’s Lost It’s Meaning in Game Design
A few months ago I bought a Nintendo Switch online and was confused about which game to get with it. After a thorough examination (ie- watch vs videos on youtube ) I made one of the best decisions of my life. Legend of Zelda : Breath Of The Wild. There is an extensive lineup of everything good with that game , but something in the core of it’s design made me realize that game designers today have forgotten the idea of self discovery and player immersion.
This article is not about any specific feature of the game , nor is it an essay about how good BOW is. The opening 15 minutes of the game brought a thought that I could never shake away since.
Videogames were and are still popular for one specific reason — to escape the rules and bounds of the reality we exist in.
A lot of games today put an emphasis on immersion. But the immersion is almost always built on the looks of the game or the foundations of it’s mechanics , but never provide an exploratory learning curve. Hand holding is great , but the experience of learning the world you are dropped into by yourself without your game pointing any directions has it’s own sense of increased enthrallment and engagement.
This article is more of a study , concentrating on 4 games ,and how their fundamental design trusts their players to explore and probe the environment themselves to fully realize the virtual world and everything it offers.
Level 1–1
Probably the most recognizable on this list. Level 1–1 is a magical experience for a lot of people and for a variety of reasons. Some people like it because it’s their first level ever , for some it was their childhood. Whatever the reason is for a gamer , a game designer has one of the best design principles hidden in this gem of a stage.
In a time where game developers were restricted with the amount of processing power and memory , they had to find the best ways to reuse assets and find shortcuts to develop everything they had envisioned. Which meant that there was no way to fully integrate a tutorial like system and help the user to learn their mechanics.
While some believe that a lack of tutorial or general lack of direction is a downside , the developers took this opportunity to make the player feel like he has returned to something familiar. After all , people who had an NES back then were ones who probably played on a arcade machine before.
The way in which elements of the level were placed is what makes this level so wonderful.
- You begin with Mario present at the left end of the screen, standing still and doing nothing. You see the first type of enemy , the goomba and you try to avoid it. You press the directional keys to run away from it and you press the action to jump. If you die , you learn how the enemy would potentially attack you , and thus learn one of the most basic and fundamental mechanics of the game. Stomping enemies.
- The next most important element of this level is the group of glowing question mark boxes. Looking at these question marks , we try to hit them , to learn that we get power-ups and coins from them.
- The next thing we try to do is take the power-up and grow in size. Now we try to see if the other bricks have something hidden too , and realize we can break the normal bricks once powered up.
- We continue forward , jump are next set of obstacles , the pipes , and as we move forward we encounter more enemies. Which now isn't a problem now since we have learnt how to fight them on our own.
- As the level progresses , you are handed with the next power-up , the fire flower , after that the star where you learn what those power-ups do and the cycle of learning goes on till you reach the flagpost in the end.
Level 1–1 was not designed as the first level of this game , instead was a tutorial in disguise. We learnt the primary actions and mechanics of this game through experience. Trial and error was a key mechanic of this level , and by the end , you end up feeling like the game and all it has to offer is familiar.
Rime
Rime for a lot people including me , scratched the “ journey “ itch we have been having for quite some time now.
On the marketplace , Rime is called a 3rd person adventure. I believe that this game sets a genre of it’s own. Rime takes place on a small landmass filled with new ideas implemented to engross the player and increase engagement with it’s lack of handholding. The game begins with your character waking up along the shore , confused and directionless. This characteristic of the character holds true for the player too , as the reality that we are dropped into sinks in.
The opening automatically connects us with the player. We understand just as much as the character does , and learn just as much as he does. What makes this unique is the lack of any form of text , voice-over or animation guidance to tell you what to do.
You are in control of the character because you are the character , you decide an objective , you clear the path and do what you think is best to piece the puzzle you are dropped into.
It takes a while to get accustomed to , and not to hide anything , I just got done player gears of war 4 , a game that has a marker , indicator and 3 other people screaming into your ear about what to do next. It becomes jarring. But you learn to push past the first 20 minutes of the game after which the sense of freedom and impulsion for exploration sets in.
The graphics isn’t high tier , it works more with the art style and unique design of the location more than the graphical fidelity , but the sense of involvement and attachment is brought about by the presence of personal investment in learning on your own and not being spoon fed.
If you haven't tried this game I highly recommend you do. It’s pretty small in size and scale , but he vision and scope exceeds everyone’s expectations.
Legend Of Zelda : Breath Of The Wild
Breath of the wild is the true definition of an open world sandbox. The game has quite a linear approach with it’s story , some might even call it bland. But what made me sink 170 hours into this game was not the story it had to offer , but the world itself. BOW acts as a survival , action , stealth , strategic RPG. But the game never tells you how to work or master it’s varied mechanics. The answer to “ How strong are you in this game ? “ comes down to “ How much do you know about the world ? “.
You are never given the knowledge of advanced combat. You learn as you progress through the story or expand yourself from the position you wake up from. Weapon breakdown , Different shields , Arrows , Bows , all of which you learn from experience.
One of the most joyous and memorable experiences with this game was when I was traveling through a rain-forest , and was almost always getting electrocuted to death. I never realized why. I tried again and again , with the same failing result , only to realize i had a metallic shield and sword equipped that conducted the electricity. The moment of realization is unparalleled. You not only explore the expansive world you live in, you encounter problems that can be solved with experience and continuous exploration.
The game takes the sandbox idea so seriously , that there exists no restraint on exploration , by allowing you to climb everything , fight any enemy at any time , hell go try beating the final boss right after you wake up from your sleep. This is a game which ends up being eventful as you invest yourself in it.
Call Of Duty Nazi Zombies
No matter how toxic this game’s community is , immersion and replay-ability of it’s zombies mode relies on the motive of payers to try , learn and perfect themselves with every round and session played.
You always spawn with a pistol->You encounter a zombie you shoot at it ->try to melee it -> run out of ammo->search for ammo-> Find new guns->Use perks and the cycle goes on. The simplicity of this mode ( Not talking about the tedious ester egg stuff from newer installments ) is reinforced by the urge for the player to survive just another round after they die.
There is no best solution for the problem since the volatility of a session is just as random as the zombies and their AI. You learn to become better with experience. You learn new secrets. You become eager to perfect yourself with newer combinations of mechanics. Other than a cutscene you are never explicitly given a tutorial , because the game tries to be a sandbox of mechanics and is very good at it.
CONCLUSION
Games today rely on holding a player’s hand and taking them through a bootcamp to have them familiarized with what it has to offer. Though helpful for a player , what it ultimately leads to is an offering that becomes stale and repetitive since you almost never learn anything new.
Self Exploration in videogames can be realizing new mechanics , hidden locations , or the very construct of player progression. games like the ones above don't treat their audience/players as kids that have difficulty with learning. Immersion must result from player time invested into learning the intricacies of your game.
