[A game director’s quick thought] About the game ‘Braid.’

What makes a game entertaining?

I have talked to the game director of RR, Hyunbin, to talk about the components of an exciting and entertaining game.

What were his concerns when he directed Music Inside?

His theory for designing game is short and straightforward:

A game is an entertainment.

To elaborate his concerns, he used his favorite game, Braid, as an example. What is his thought about the game, Braid? What grabbed him as it did?

Shift key is all it takes to turn back the time

Let’s get to know the game a little bit. Don’t the controls and graphics of the game remind you of a game? Yes, our good old friend, Super Mario: a big time adventure to save the princess.

What is so special about this game that caught Hyunbin’s eyes?

Original but Friendly- Intuitive Creativity

In the world of ‘Braid,’ the shift key is all it takes to rewind the time. The new concept of the time and the 2D shape of the game are combined to create a whole new game.

For the most of Super Mario type of games, avoiding monsters and obstacles at the right time is a big deal. On the other hand, for ‘Braid,’ you can rewind the time with a fingertip. Which mean, you need a strategy to use appropriate keys and items to play this specific puzzle game.

When it comes to developing a game, originality does not always promise the entertaining-ness. There is a reason why the popular games sustain the familiar play. What makes a game to stick to the users is ‘intuition.’ For users to love a game, it has to be easy and fun to play.

This is where real charm of ‘Braid’ comes: original yet intuitive.

“It is not too hard to make an original game. You just need to combine all the rules that weren’t there before. It would make it new, but would it make it fun? Not!” — Hyunbin

If you apply odd rules, it will make the entry barrier higher, lose the probability of the story, and lose the control. That just doesn’t sound entertaining. This is why game developers must concern about the ease of rules. Unless the players could easily learn it, they will not enjoy it.

It is not too different for ‘Braid.’ Other than the addition of ‘the time rewinding key’ or AKA ‘reviving key,’ this game is similar to existing Super Mario type of games. Since then, the players could learn to play this game without too much of troubles. In fact, I doubt that there is trouble at all. Look at this game. Isn’t it intuitive? Interestingly, with an addition of one button, this game transformed from a game that requires quick reaction to the puzzle one that needs brain.

One theme? One game! — Consistency needed!

One of the strengths of ‘Braid’ is in its consistency. With its theme of ‘Time,’ its story, control, mechanic, interface and all the other compositions of the game spontaneously connect and work together to create the game.

Unlike for the game directors, for players, a game is an experience. They do not worry too much about its compositions. For their experience, directors must design the game for these pieces to naturally cooperate.

The Compositions of Braid

Control: the ‘Shift’ key is always available for the players to ‘rewind the time.’

Interface: When the players click the shift key, the flashback plays backward in black and white for them to notice the obviousness that the time is rewound.

The mechanic of the game: For each stage, a new object related to time appears.

Story: It tells a story about each object.

When the character goes left, the monsters are going backward.

Ex) World 4

Story: Each place reminds the character of different memory.

The mechanic of the game: The player experiences different time flow depending on the direction he moves.

Control: When the player moves to the right, time goes forward, and when he moves to the left, the time goes backward.

Interface: The direction and the movement of the monster also depend on the player’s control.

The game, ‘Braid’ presents an epic that suits its theme, Time to its players. Each composition of the game can never be too small to concern. For the players’ best experience, each and every element of the game cooperate like a cogwheel. Thanks to that, a user can be persuaded by its world and be immersed in the game.

With the help of Hyunbin, we could steal a peek at ‘Braid’ and game directing process.

The next game RR is developing with Hyunbin

Knowing his knowledge and concerns, I cannot help but to get very excited for his next game!

This post is to share RR member’s favorite game and his thought on it. We will soon post more about RR’s games and VR games, so if you are interested, please subscribe us.