Evan Balster
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« on: April 02, 2013, 11:01:14 PM » |
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What is the purpose of slowness in a game?
Of a long, slow travel, from point A to point B.
Moving is familiar to us. We are scarcely occupied with such a simple task.
Our minds are free to wander.
And if they were to wander to other things, beyond the created world, we might call it boredom.
But suppose this world had sent us on our journey with a ration...
That is to say, food for thought.
Our minds wander still, but remain within its borders.
Given mysteries, we wonder.
Given puzzles, we seek to understand.
Given crises, we ponder our course of action.
Slowness gives us time for thinking about these things.
A game being something that exists in the presence of a piece of software and a human mind,
...
...
...
perhaps it could be enriched by making use of the latter.
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Creativity births expression. Curiosity births exploration. Our work is as soil to these seeds; our art is what grows from them...Wreath, SoundSelf, Infinite Blank, Cave Story+, <plaid/audio>
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mysteriosum
Level 1
I just lost the game ;(
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« Reply #1 on: May 07, 2013, 09:53:01 AM » |
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I think is a great example of this. The worlds are generally very open, and certainly very still. The stillness there lends a sense both of peace and abandonment. And it certainly leaves lots of room to ponder. Something I find effective is proper repetitive use of passageways. In Fez you constantly go back and forth searching for puzzles to solve. What he did to make this interesting was place lots and lots of hints in the art which suggest a history. The hints link to other hints, and as you gather the Bits to complete the Hexahedron, so too does your understanding of the world near completion. It's a wonderful form of storytelling. You really feel like you're interacting with the world: doing your own research; interpreting symbols; rediscovering secrets long forgotten.
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Evan Balster
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« Reply #2 on: May 08, 2013, 06:00:36 PM » |
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The same could be said of most of my favorites... I think it's almost inevitable that a slow-paced game will alienate a large portion of the traditional "gamer" crowd. People these days largely don't have the patience for things like adventure games anymore.
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Creativity births expression. Curiosity births exploration. Our work is as soil to these seeds; our art is what grows from them...Wreath, SoundSelf, Infinite Blank, Cave Story+, <plaid/audio>
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mono
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« Reply #3 on: May 09, 2013, 05:24:07 AM » |
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I think is a great example of this. The worlds are generally very open, and certainly very still. The stillness there lends a sense both of peace and abandonment. And it certainly leaves lots of room to ponder. Something I find effective is proper repetitive use of passageways. In Fez you constantly go back and forth searching for puzzles to solve. What he did to make this interesting was place lots and lots of hints in the art which suggest a history. The hints link to other hints, and as you gather the Bits to complete the Hexahedron, so too does your understanding of the world near completion. It's a wonderful form of storytelling. You really feel like you're interacting with the world: doing your own research; interpreting symbols; rediscovering secrets long forgotten. A lot of people found Fez boring because it was way too slow and had almost no gameplay. It's one thing to make a fun game with the ability to slow yourself down to enjoy the atmosphere and delve into the details, and another when the whole game is just a slow and repetitive experience with no challenge whatsoever. The main reason why people did not enjoy Fez was because they did not experience the Myst-like part or could not even be bothered. I don't think Phil did something wrong and that the game is badly designed, it's just the illusion that games are only good if they appeal to the majority of core-gamers. To say that the game has "no challenge" is just a flat out incorrect and you probably never deciphered anything.
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Blambo
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« Reply #4 on: May 10, 2013, 06:48:01 PM » |
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I think is a great example of this. The worlds are generally very open, and certainly very still. The stillness there lends a sense both of peace and abandonment. And it certainly leaves lots of room to ponder. Something I find effective is proper repetitive use of passageways. In Fez you constantly go back and forth searching for puzzles to solve. What he did to make this interesting was place lots and lots of hints in the art which suggest a history. The hints link to other hints, and as you gather the Bits to complete the Hexahedron, so too does your understanding of the world near completion. It's a wonderful form of storytelling. You really feel like you're interacting with the world: doing your own research; interpreting symbols; rediscovering secrets long forgotten. A lot of people found Fez boring because it was way too slow and had almost no gameplay. It's one thing to make a fun game with the ability to slow yourself down to enjoy the atmosphere and delve into the details, and another when the whole game is just a slow and repetitive experience with no challenge whatsoever. The main reason why people did not enjoy Fez was because they did not experience the Myst-like part or could not even be bothered. I don't think Phil did something wrong and that the game is badly designed, it's just the illusion that games are only good if they appeal to the majority of core-gamers. To say that the game has "no challenge" is just a flat out incorrect and you probably never deciphered anything. Just the fact that it was a platformer probably did not serve its image.
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outis
Level 0
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« Reply #5 on: May 12, 2013, 05:21:02 PM » |
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I played the hell out of Skyrim within months of its release, to the point that the idea of playing it turned my stomach, made me faint. So many broken promises in that game. When I am able to play it now, it is only like this. I spent five minutes trying to look a cow in the eye the last time I gave it a go. A game that rewarded that would be a game I'd love forever. I'd make one if I could.
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mono
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« Reply #6 on: May 13, 2013, 05:07:39 AM » |
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I played the hell out of Skyrim within months of its release, to the point that the idea of playing it turned my stomach, made me faint. So many broken promises in that game. When I am able to play it now, it is only like this. I spent five minutes trying to look a cow in the eye the last time I gave it a go. A game that rewarded that would be a game I'd love forever. I'd make one if I could.
What promises?
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Blambo
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« Reply #7 on: May 13, 2013, 05:18:59 PM » |
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Openness, a deep interconnected world, a sense of scale, howling peaks overlooking splendid vistas, dynamic intelligence systems, challenging adventure with dire and perpetual consequences, a world to forge your own narrative.
Instead we got GTA: Viking Edition.
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unsilentwill
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« Reply #8 on: May 13, 2013, 05:40:40 PM » |
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I'm afraid a lot of this comes down to role playing. It's the different between a brat in a forest and a kid who likes to explore. As far as design goes the best route I'd say is having a lot of detailed and small content that's easily missable, like tiny fungus or a carving in a rock, encouraging a more intentional pace. Less of a focus on winning, more elements of just enjoying being in the space and maybe a few things to keep your curiosity.
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outis
Level 0
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« Reply #9 on: May 13, 2013, 05:50:13 PM » |
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I had hoped that all these things to do would at some point mean something. In the game I mean. But with each quest I finished and bit of loot I found, more and more of the hollowness behind the illusion of this cool, deep game, became apparent, until it made me sick to look at.
I expected too much. It did take me hundreds of hours to get there and it's still one of the better games I've played. People said it was like Fallout. It was so much more pointless than Fallout 3, even NV, and the size of it made that even worse.
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mysteriosum
Level 1
I just lost the game ;(
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« Reply #10 on: May 17, 2013, 01:26:16 PM » |
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Hrm, seems like this discussion is a little off-topic. But it doesn't have to be! Skyrim is wonderful for many reasons. I agree that many aspects were disappointing, but I didn't concern myself with them. I just decided to do my own thing. I became a vampire Archmage and that's it, didn't even finish the main storyline. When I could sneak attack a dragon I thought, "Yep. Game over!"
What I enjoyed most about Skyrim, I think, was exploring. The sense of openness, I found, was definitely there, at least environmentally. I reveled in scaling mountains, to gaze over the top of one at the rich landscape below. I loved sneaking around the city at night, invisible, breaking into farmers' houses and sucking their blood. It gave me a sense of distance, of seclusion, which I believe relates to this thread.
It would have been cool if I could make everyone in Skyrim a vampire though. Maybe in Elder Scrolls VI...
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sebaslive
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« Reply #11 on: August 07, 2013, 09:22:26 AM » |
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The wind waker is making the exploration a lot faster because as the whole nintendo brand is claiming; they aren't competing between products but for your time. On the opposite end of the spectrum with the coming Occulus Rift I am positive we will get more games like proteus and such that are less objective focused. Point being is mobile ruined it for everyone!
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Indie all around when it comes to games, films, stories, and art.
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Runefrog
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« Reply #12 on: February 26, 2014, 01:39:57 AM » |
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There is nothing worse than a large open world with nothing to do in it. I admire what sandbox games are going for but they rarely appeal to me. They're more technical feats more than relevant level designs.
I guess with the speedy improvements in technology gamers expect more space and less corridor-driven environments simply because the console's can handle it.
Prototype is a good example. Did anyone ever learn the layout of the street and explore every nook and cranny that was painfully recreated? I didn't. I spent most of my time on rooftops staring down at the top of buildings.
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