Our theory is games are more than interaction, more than story, and are enjoyable on many different levels and in different ways than by more traditional forms of entertainment, such as movies or books.
The Puzzle Pieces are a very good way to show this, since without any of the other pieces the puzzle is incomplete. A video game with an amazing story, but poorly executed controls is less rewarding than a game with immersive story and well articulated controls.
The puzzle breaks down into four major components: Gameplay, Story, Design, and Experience. These components are then further sub-divided by the developer’s reasoning or intent, and the end user’s experience with these components. Much like a director makes a choice of angle or a writer selects a phrase and the watcher or reader interprets these signals, so to do these choices and interpretations exist in the video game media.
Below we shall delve more deeply into the four major components and the various ideas that exist within them.
GamePlay
Developer
● Mechanics: Mechanics such as how the game will be controlled, which button is jump or shoot etc. Do these controls help or hinder the play?
● Flow: You are no longer you, you are the marine saving the world, or the elf killing the orcs etc.
● Innovation: What is new about this game what if anything will it change or pioneer?
Users:
● Ease of using controls: Based on the developer’s mechanics, did the controls conform to standard and comfortable positions ie: WASD for movement in an FPS on a PC. Did the controls help you forget that you are playing a game, or did they serve as a barrier to immersion?
● Learning: How is this world different than my own? How is it different than another fictional world I have also played in? What is the extent of my control over this world?
● Entertaining: Are the responses you get from the world entertaining? When you complete a level or beat a boss why is it so rewarding? Was it a fun and entertaining simulation?
● Difficulty: How hard was the game? Did the AI offer enough of a challenge? Were the puzzles especially hard to solve? Did you have to think outside the box? Did you change the difficulty? Why? Did increasing the difficulty decrease or increase the enjoyment of mastering the world?
● Break Expectations: Can I jump on top of a building that I am not supposed to be able to get onto? Can I “break the game?” or “Find the Cake?” so to speak. Are there hacks that exist outside of the game to enhance or change my experiences?
● Push the Limits of the World: How can I utilize the rules and physics of this world to my best advantage without actually breaking anything? Teamwork in a co-operative multiplayer game for instance like luring an enemy down a hallway into an ambush.
Story
Developer:
● Complex Themes: The story could be a deep and meaningful rich experience. The story could be as enthralling or teach us as much as novels claim to do.
● Arc: Does the story follow the traditional model of story telling? i.e. Set up, rising action, climax, conflict resolution, falling action etc. How does this affect your view of events and characters.
● Characters: How do the characters feel in this game? Are they fleshed out people? Or do they respond with the same few words over and over? How does this affect player involvement?
● Descriptions: Will there be a way for the user to learn more about the world? ex. scannable objects in the Metroid series for the Gamecube. How will these function? What will they say? What will the text be?
User:
● Descriptions: Was there a way to learn more about how things in the world got there? Ie. The ability to know even the details of a crate in Mass Effect. Did this enhance the feeling of your attachment to the world?
● Immersion: Did you feel immersed more in the world because of the story? Did it give you a better understanding of why you had to kill monsters/zombies/nazis or what your motivation was? Did it help you develop attachment to your character? Other characters? Or the world as a whole?
● Depth: Did the story touch on some deep issues? Did it explore the human condition? Did it make you re-evaluate your actions (in-game or in meat-life)? Did it make you think critically?
● Skippable: If given the option did you watch the cut scenes? Read the flavour text if available? Comprehend the mission objective. Or generally care at all about the overall fate/state of this fictional world.
● Characters: Are the characters in keeping with the overall theme of the game? Do they respond as you might expect them to? Do some gameplay events change the dialogue or attitude of these characters as you would expect?
Experience
Developer:
● Linear/Non-Linear: Should the user pick the order of the quests/missions? Should there only be one set path to follow?
● Time: Is this game a sequel? Or a Prequel? How does that change things for the player’s experience? What needs to be changed or added to make this game different?
User:
● Accumulation: Your experience of the game comes from the elements of story, play, and design if the game finds the right balance (or perhaps it doesn’t but you like it that way anyway) of story and play.
● Catharsis: Did you feel accomplishment, and a sense of the cleansing of emotion after rescuing the Princess or beating the final boss or from the story coming to close?
● Completion: Did you play the game just to beat all the bosses in the right order? If it was a broader game did you explore all the areas of the map? Did you complete bonus/side missions/quests/levels? Did you complete all of them?
● Replay: Would you re-play the game again? Are there multiple endings you can get? How will it affect your play next time? Your enjoyment of the story? Your sense of catharsis?
● Response: Did the scary monster that jumped out actually scare you? Were the sound effects on cue? Did the textures help to carry the theme of the game (scary bloody walls in Bioshock for instance.) Did you die a lot before you realized breaking certain crates caused them to explode?
● Dreams: If the game is played enough are there real world side effects? Dreaming about a post apocalyptic wasteland after too much Fallout for example.
● Merging Realities: Does enough play begin to affect your real world interactions... Believing that there’s a splicer behind the shower curtain, or talking in a medieval tongue for instance.
● Fandom: Is it possible to be affected to the point of fandom? Dressing as the Companion Cube from p0rtal at a convention for example.
Design
Developer:
● Theme: The unifying idea throughout the game, this determines many elements of the design is the theme a boy gets girl story? A horror type scenario in which only the blonde virgin survives?
● Genre: Which genre is the game going to be? FPS? RPG? Why this choice? How will it affect play and story and style?
● Atmosphere:
○ Sound: What will the in game sounds be? What will the scoring be like? How does a score without vocals compare to ingame music with vocals?
○ Textures: Do the walls and floors and ceilings make sense? Are the characters real looking? Do they convey the theme well?
○ Colour/Line: what choices were made where? Yellow conveys happiness or joy green signifies jealousy. A zigzag conveys excitement, a long straight line may make your eye follow it for instance.
○ Lighting: Does the lighting and its position make for a scary setting? Or a happy meadow? Where and when should lights be and play off of? Katamari has a lot more light than F.E.A.R
○ HUD/Menus: How will the HUD look? Why? It’s something players will see a lot during some games it should fit with the theme or personality of the character.
User:
● Mods: Does the developer give you the tools to model your own scenarios or concepts? If not is there a way to do it anyway? What did you make? Why? Was it more or less enjoyable than the original?
● User feedback: Sales of a game are a way to determine if the players liked a game, so are letters or emails to the company. Have you ever expressed dislike or like of a game or concept? Why? Was there any feedback from the developer?
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