Concentric - Itch Game of the Week
How Concentric tests the player against themselves
Concentric is a game by Ben Wilson and can be found at time of writing at this page. It was created for the “Wizard Jam 6” game jam.
Concentric isn’t a hard game, but if my experience is any indication players will die a lot. And that’s how this game from gamewright Ben Wilson caught my attention. On paper, Concentric seems like it should be a breeze to finish. All the player has to do is navigate a ball through a series of nested concentric rings to pick up a jewel and then bring it back to the centre. Think of a quicker paced Frogger and you’ll grasp the idea pretty quick. Repeat a couple of times and the next level is unlocked. There are really only three or so types of hazards, and they are all pretty self-explanatory. Arrows spin around the rings that kill you on contact but they always move in one direction at one steady speed. A ball of electricity retraces the players footsteps but keep moving and it’ll never catch them. So why did I die hundreds of times across the game’s 26 levels?
The answer I’ve come to is Wilson’s extremely slow paced complexity ramp. There’s only so many ways Concentric can implement it’s simple mechanics. The arrows can only spin around the paths the one way, speed being the only variable. The electric ball only chases the player at one speed. All the paths are circular, though some of the rings are broken into discreet sections. This means that even though Concentric only has 26 levels, each feels relatively similar to their predecessors and successors.
In a vacuum that might make Concentric sound boring and repetitive, but the repetition is key to the game remaining challenging and compelling. Wilson’s game is exceptionally good at making the player cocky and brash. Without a moment of reflection, the player can easily dash into a level without noticing how it’s different from the predecessor. But little changes between levels can make all the difference, just changing the sizes of the arrows or which of the rings are empty and safe for resting requires a completely different execution by the player. Levels can look very similar, read very similar to the eye but actually require radically different series and rhythms of inputs to pass. The game’s minimalist look also helps Concentric’s levels feel identical to each other.
This makes the act of playing Concentric a frustrating experience, but in a compelling way. The game is being perfectly fair and honest in how it relays information, but is fickle in how its design encourages players to ignore that. This may turn off some players but I find it to be a beneficial humbling. Concentric teases the player with an over inflated sense of confidence and then takes it back in quick succession. The result being a strong desire in the player to conquer the game. Even the hardest challenges in Concentric aren’t actually especially difficult, it just feels that way because it takes its players to a place of deep frustration first. Ultimately this makes Concentric’s toughest challenge an internal one for its player, and that’s always compelling game design.
Concentric was the game of the week for January 8th, 2018.
