I recently bought the Sly Cooper Collection on the Playstation Network, which is the first three Sly Cooper games for one nice price. It's very interesting to see not only how well the first one holds up over time, but also some of the differences between the first and second. The biggest difference (or at least the one I'm focusing on today) was the change from having a life system like Mario where by default one hit will kill you unless you have certain power-ups and having limited lives to a health system with no lives whatsoever. Most games nowadays seem to go towards the latter or go even further with a regenerating health system. Both systems have their pros and cons and I don't think gamers should be limited to experiencing only one of those systems.
As the gamer player base grows, new and more casual gamers are joining every day. So I understand the desire to make things more accessible. This, I think, was one of the major reasons for the creation of the regenerative health system (where a player's health regenerates over time or immediately fills back up if they don't take damage for X number of seconds). The nice thing about this system is it lets players experiment with the systems of a game without as much fear of failure. They can try one set of tactics or practice moves they're not used to and as long as they can find a safe place to hide to recover, they won't lose. This, in turn, lets the player figure out how to maximize their fun by playing the game how they want to. A simple, yet common, example for me is finding the boundaries of the world. When I first start a game, I like to know if I'm protected from falling off of an area by invisible force fields or not, so I tend to jump off a cliff relatively early on. If I just take a little bit of damage from this or (even better) grappling hook my way out of the pit then I know that I can experiment freely and can try to get to weird/hilarious places the developer didn't want me.
On the flip side, this system takes away a lot of the sense of danger a game can have, which, as I learned from this amazing talk at GDC one year is very important to make a game worth playing. With no sense of danger, a game becomes way too easy and boring. This is one thing the limited hit and lives system has going for it. The entire time I was playing Sly Cooper and every time I play a Mario game, I feel incredibly fragile because one hit can if not kill me, then make things a lot more difficult. This feeling makes my victory feel even more satisfying, especially when I intentionally or not pull off amazing recoveries or complete a challenge by the skin of my teeth. However, just like experimentation, this method has its down side as well. If the entire game is this nerve wracking, then I'm only going to be able to handle it in small chunks or become quickly angry at the game because my stress level is so high. This sense of danger is crucial, but only in small doses.
So, just like most things with game design, it ultimately comes down to a balance between the two. Adding a tougher section to the game or imposing limits (hopefully something more clever than a time limit) can help give a sense of danger. Adding an area for the player to experiment with how the various systems of a game interact gives them a safe environment to find their play style and find their own fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment