Project Proposal

Now that I've been doing a bunch of research on emotion, emotion and video games and online relationships I'm about to dive in and start writing my project proposal. The idea is that I want to create heuristics so that I can help other game designers in coming up with game design which is driven by emotion. I've been checking out Jenova Chen interviews on YouTube to rake in any information I can about his design process.

I probably won't post again till January sometime. Wish me luck!

Cheers, 

Gavin

Emotion through game mechanics?

One of the things I've came across while researching games is conveying emotion through game mechanics. It seems the traditional way of conveying emotion through video games is with the use of cut-scenes which is basically film. For exmaple, I loved Final Fantasy X, I thought it was an amazing game and there's a lot of emotion portrayed through the characters, however it's all done through cut-scenes... now there's nothing wrong with that but conveying emotion through game mechanics is very interesting because the emotion comes from the players themselves, not what they see on screen. The emotion is simulated rather than elicited by the individual. Imagine a video game where you're constantly playing but it's very emotional. It may seem a bit strange I know... but video games are a young medium; they are maturing and expanding away from what we know them as. Films are great at what they achieve but imagine interactive content which delivers the experience but it differs enough to not be classed as a film. I'm looking at Heavy Rain here. It's a great game which does well what it sets out to do but there is next to no gameplay. 

Okay enough rambling. I would like to give an example of emotion through game mechanics and I'm using an old popular game here with a lot of respect to try and reach out to a big audience. 

Shadow of the Colossus - Team Ico (2005)

That's right, Shadow of the Colossus. If you don't know what Shadow of the Colossus is then I'd advise either checking it out or getting a copy for yourself. I'll dive straight into the emotion through mechanics stuff now.

Example

In Shadow of the Colossus you travel across vast landscapes in order to reach the colossal giants with your horse. This is basically your 'move faster' mechanic in order to get around quicker. However, players can't help but feel some form of companionship with the horse... an emotional bond where they actually care for their horse. This is exactly what I mean when talking about emotion through mechanics. It's just a game mechanic but the context in which it has been put in (the horse) has made the player appreciate the creature a heck of a lot. 

There's a bunch of other examples but I'd be here all day. Can you think of any game mechanics from games which elicit emotions from the player or even your own personal experiences? 

Cheers, 

Gavin

Journey

Journey - thatgamecompany(2013)

It's funny... I talk about this game a lot, people must get fed up with me talking about it all the time! The most unfortunate thing is I haven't actually had a chance to play this game because my PS3 broke a few years ago. I've watched enough videos and interviews from Jenova Chen, Robin Hunicke and Kellee Santiago to know enough about the game to understand it and know what it's about... I just haven't yet had the chance to experience it which sucks!

Despite not having played the game it still manages to amaze me. The narrative is told through wonderful artwork and audio with no dialogue whatsoever leaving the story up to interpretation which is a powerful way of telling a story in my opinion. Sometimes having your own idea of what's going on in the story is a lot more enjoyable than finding it out in black and white. 

I love what Journey did with the multiplayer too. They used subtractive game design and ended up with no way too communicate between players, nope, not even players PSN name; they were a complete stranger which draws back to my last post about instantly thinking of Journey when seeing the topic 'Strangers in game'. 

thatgamecompany have inspired me as a game designer to think about games differently. Games which are driven by emotion, grip the player and give me a rememberable experience. This is why I'm loving the experimental games which are coming out just now like Gone Home and The Stanley Parable. 

I'll end it there, cheers!

Gavin