Journey and the art of emotional game design

Codemasters

design director Nick Harper how a game can look like a Hollywood movie and a game of tennis Andy Murray

Travel

game is phenomenal. This mystical adventure, developed by Santa Monica studio thatgamecompany, is one of those rare moments that make us question everything related to the environment. I try to see things from a design perspective top-down and bottom-up.

am a design director and talk to game developers Codemasters here on these rather different approaches. In simple terms, the game design bottom-up has to do with experience fine mechanics, where the function is king and form follows later.

Codemasters is of great importance because of the need to make the driving experience of the car perfect for the user. Background game designer thinking in abstract terms: do not care one angry bird trying to get a pig wrong - it's just a box in front of the B box with a clear design levels teach the player where to direct.

Travel

If you look at what are the design elements from the bottom, up there in the game? The basic mechanic is the fluidity of movement of the main character. Mario in Mario games is easy to imagine a ball, how its abstract form - sphere collision if you want - "rolls" and leans on the environment. Nintendo animators then do an amazing job to a form appropriate to that function.

Mario

original form as many characters of the 8-bit era, was designed to fit within a limit of 32 pixels, resulting in a stocky guy with arms and legs apart away. In fact, the evolved form of Staff trackball while remaining faithful to the original character design - a bottom-up approach. Journey has a similar feel to me. To give the reader an incredible natural movement, accessible, artists are not bound by a typical form of man, which requires certain behaviors. Work slips and floating mechanical because the hooded figure, with legs that end in a place is as fluid as the movement itself.

Another key element of the design is the use of signs and feedback to help the player understand the game systems The clearest evidence of signs within Journey are milestones and objects collection. It speak for themselves: is white, glow, are placed on a contrasting background for the player clarity.

reference points are more interesting. I think a little known aspect of the trip is the brightness in the simplicity of the design levels. The first scene presents the player with a barren landscape. The player must rotate the camera to see something, then teaching a basic input through a natural process. The only point of interest is a hill topped by two flags our attention. Come on, then.

sounds ridiculous, but how many games have started with a beautiful resort where you sit there and wonder "uh, where do I go?" Then, guided by a delay element HUD or a large arrow pointing in the right direction. Upon receipt of this trip is so good with the surrounding architecture. The world

told where to go. Even if the player does not play directed through the use of walls the wind blows again. As there is a clear design intent - that has reached the end of the road, but a dominant player in the form of feedback is subtle and believable -. No glass ceiling, but a mild sandstorm that is built to prevent progression

So you head towards the flags. Upon arrival, the camera rises to reveal the mountain. No need for an update of the target, or a character who tells me what to do - messaging and motivation is implicit in the design of architecture levels: I must go to the mountain. The game is filled with these benchmarks, and shows the bravery of the team that ruined everything to keep the player without compromising eye candy irrelevant.

feedback

The best way to think of nature scarf is power. In the development of games, designers often think loops games - cycles that involve the establishment of a target player, offering a challenge to be overcome to achieve this goal, and reward the player for his triumph. A good reward game loop allows the player to meet the toughest challenges (where the loop is finished).

atomic Journey has a micro-loop simple: find material (objective), pick the product (challenge), the ability to increase (reward). Importantly, the reward is directly linked to the challenge, but in general terms as the design requires achievable goals, but a jump / float ability allows the player to more easily reach the items to collect. And of course, this increase in capacity is connected to the main mechanics (movement) and a player with a long scarf is more manageable in the game world

This scarf, the wind walls that prevent players going in the wrong direction, is an implementation of a simple feedback elegant. The scarf could be simply an HUD - a bar that grows and flows into use, to be restored to the land. I guess that's how the team tested the mechanic, but the art direction, the top-down approach, has demanded something more elegant.

Therefore, the fluidity of the character is wonderful, the game shows strong signs and returns, the motivation is implicit in the game world These are all great features of a great game, players take things and things designers are constantly looking to implement to drive. In my view, however, is how these bottom-up elements fuse with trip-down design that elevates the game.

down design is to create a game that has a message, a way to communicate to the reader. I do not say things like "kill the demon lord" or "save the princess", but something that makes us question an aspect of our life, or society, or the status quo. Games like Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, and the recent re-boot of Prince of Persia on themes related to love and sacrifice, but the game rather than cut scenes.

[Prince of Persia Spoiler Alert!]

The end of PoP

deliberately forcing the player to take the body of Elika by a huge corridor, powerless to perform his own stunts (as it has). This gives the player time to think about the situation: have spent the last hours of jumping hand in hand with this girl often be saved by it after making a mistake - without it, it could have ended the match . Here, however, she died in the arms of the prince, as the player progresses in the corridor with the credits rolling.

throughout the game, the altar of resurrection was returned, and soon realizes that the choice of the player will have to do: I will raise him up and suffer the consequences of the resurrection of the Aruhman evil spirit, or I'll ... , Turn off the console? This is where I think the game is a success - which makes me question my relationship with a virtual character: I want to save or not? I was not worried about the prince buffoon, but my connection.

[Prince of Persia ending spoiler]

What is the meaning behind Travel? Well, the smartest thatgamecompany team and university that I can probably tell you exactly, but for me, the message is: ". It is only by understanding our past mistakes, we can prepare for the future "We have come a culture so powerful, now decimated by the greed and arrogance. It is a dark world in the first place, dotted with gravestones symbolic in a desert of ruins, which represents a catastrophic event of the past. gameplay scarf growth, while a nice touch to the signs and reactions, also connect the player to the preparation of the future - they are comfortable with a longer scarf, so when you replay the game pieces look scarf in the past, you ignored.

In the game, players learn from other more experienced players through innovative cooperation mechanical limited, which combines randomly to participants so that they can explore together. I remember the first time I met a "white" player. Immediately, I was inspired and fascinated - how are targeted? What have they achieved? And most importantly, what I can learn from them? Purity of character to match the white color of the gods are on the spiritual path, provides a state aspiring to the players, but also a source of inspiration for the less experienced participants - who are a guide, expert, assistant. They had the experience and learned from past mistakes, as the game asks you to do the same.

This sense connects the top-down and bottom-up for the match. The game should have a world in which a catastrophic event took place, but also need to present the player with clear benchmarks for easier navigation. Function and form are integrated in the sense of the game - arid world shows the errors of the past, we prepare clear benchmarks for the future
• We see a world built on a mystical power, enhancing the visual perception of the scarf, but we see that the power to create machines of destruction and annihilation final abused in society their hands. The player must then deal with these machines throughout the game, with the support of secondary media, such as art direction intimidating, threatening movement and limited audio level design.

The last thing I want to talk about is the emotional curve of the trip, the peaks and valleys are used to control the emotions of the player, like a movie. Curve emotional classic Hollywood looks something like this ...

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