Analysis: World of Goo

I really had no idea what I was getting into when I started playing this game. The upbeat Russian/gypsy(?) music gives the game a distinct flavor while the puzzle driven game play propagates the curiosity appeal of the game. In the end it was a whimsical journey through this world rife with compelling story and subversive humor.

Rather than try to spin this short paper one way or the other, I’m going to focus on 3 major elements of the design in an attempt to describe how these facets contribute to making this addictively fun game. The elements I will focus on are level design, balance, and reward.

Level Design

 

The level design in World of Goo is driven by the mechanics of the game. As such each level is centered around 1-3 core mechanics leaving room for some creativity in the implementation thereof. The progression of levels maintains an interesting mix of new and learned mechanics such that there isn’t a tedious level.

Within each level itself, the process of identifying and executing the mechanics required to win is straightforward. I never felt like I was needlessly punished for trying something new. There are frustrating times where you are trying to finesse position and weight balance and you just have to try over and over again. Fortunately the designer(who was also responsible for the art of the game) foresaw this and provided the flying bugs which undo your last action.

The balance between trial and error, and information provided to the player make for a fun experience by giving the player opportunities to play with the physics as he attempts to solve the puzzle. The story lends to the game play by describing a desolate world in which pain and sorrow are commonplace. This lessens the pressure upon the player when he loses goo balls, no big deal.

The level design takes advantage of physics interactions between the goo, the lattice, the world, and physics objects which are dispersed throughout the level. The core challenge of the game is augmented by the presence of physics objects which the player can interact with. Instead of simply trying to build the lattice in a way that creates a path to the goal, the player may need to use the physics objects to complete a level where normal lattice driven play is not an adequate solution.

Without getting into each individual type of goo, it’s enough to say that the variety of goo types provides ample types of puzzles without getting out of hand. There isn’t a type of goo which is unnecessary or that the game could do well enough without. Many times the level design, which is based on puzzles, drives or is driven by the types of goo present in the level.

 For example, the level where the skull is introduced the player needs to use it in a  way that the goo has never been used before. This in itself represents a puzzle to the player. He must observe that the skull is rolling through a killzone, something no other goo ball has done before. Seeing that this goo is immune to the spikes, the player may surmise that this new goo type will help support a bridge across the spike filled valley. This conclusion is further supported by the pattern of giving the player a new type of goo and presenting him with a puzzle specialized for that new type of goo.

Balance

 

Perhaps the holiest of grails of game design, balance represents the union of fun and management. In World of Goo the designers were met with several balance issues that, improperly implemented, would have ruined the game.  The first balance issue that I noticed was the number of goo-balls available to the player.

Each level has a required amount of goo balls to be rescued. Furthermore, there are areas of the level which will destroy any goo balls that come near. Finally, the player must use goo-balls to build a lattice. Each of these facts force the player to manage the amount of goo balls he is using while limiting the amount he loses to kill zones. As an example, the player may want to build the sturdiest structure possible to get across a pit to minimize his losses. Unfortunately, the player uses so many goo balls to solidify his foundation that, even though he crossed the pit, he cannot save enough goo balls to complete the level.

This design mechanic forces the player to think very carefully about the nature of his structure and become more skilled at one of the basest mechanics of the game: how to build the largest structure while maintaining the structure’s integrity. As a side note, the player is further incentivized to discover the secret behind solid structures so that he can build the tallest structure in the World of Goo Corporation and be competitive with other players.

Aside from their implementations in specific puzzles the goos’ types present the player with another challenge: which types to use. If the player wants to save as many goo balls as possible it is, most of the time, necessary to manage what types of balls he uses and where. For example, in a simple level populated with green and black balls, the player would be wise to use as many green goo galls as he can to build the lattice. In using green balls he is able to rescue more because the green ones can be detached from the lattice and saved, while the black ones are stuck if used.

The game provides the power player with opportunities to prove is mettle. In order to earn the OCD reward which is given for rescuing a predetermined number of balls or finishing the level using a predetermined number of moves. This forces the player to preserve as many of his resources as possible and use them effectively. Often it means a unique tertiary mechanic, such as hanging a lattice on the goal and slowly detaching goo balls to be saved on the dangling lattice thus causing the player to discover new ways of using the balls.

Reward

 

World of Goo provides many means of reward to the player, from visual rewards, to numerical rewards, and audio rewards. I want to focus on the number driven rewards. The two most important number based rewards are the number of goo balls rescued, and the amount of moves to complete the level. The player receives the OCD award if he rescues enough goo balls or completes the level using a certain number of moves.

The OCD reward motivates the player to play better and provides a trophy type reward for his efforts. This type of reward gives the game its primary replay value. Because the game is limited to the puzzles present in each level there isn’t a lot of room for lateral integration,  that is rewards for doing things differently. However the game provides vertical integration in that the player may try to get the highest score possible by playing more efficiently.

The player is further rewarded by rescuing as many goo balls as possible. Rescuing extra balls not only gives the player his OCD award, but it grants him extra goo balls to build a tower in the World of Goo corporation level. This also adds to the replay value of the game. It incentivizes the player to play through again in order to rescue as many goo balls as possible. This appeals to the bragging rights need of players. The player who rescues the most goo, and builds the tallest tower with his superior collection of goo.

Analysis: Halo 3

In Bungie’s first Next-Gen console FPS, the player is thrown into a fierce battle between rivaling aliens and desperate humans. Action packed game play and immersive tactics have been the hallmark of all previously released halo games, and Halo 3 didn’t disappoint. But, in order to succeed in an industry where sequels must outshine their predecessors, Bungie had to raise the bar for this latest installment.

The graphics in Halo 3 are undoubtedly the best seen in any Halo game thus far. That’s the benefit of releasing a game on a console:  an even playing field in terms of the available hardware. But incredible graphics are less than half of what makes Halo 3, and its forbearers, such immersive experiences. The design mechanics and, to a lesser extent, the story-line provide the player with experiences that draw them into the Halo universe, suspend their disbelief, and hold them there tightly until they emerge victoriously on the other side.

Level Design

 

An enormous degree of Halo’s success can be attributed to the dynamic level design which drives the player’s progress into the game. There are 3 main elements with which the player interacts in the game (by and large): the level, the enemy, and the weapons/vehicles. This section will focus on the level design itself and how it supports the player’s immersion by the game.

The level design can be broken up into a basic set of archetypal areas which the designers then merged, in a series, to form each of the massive linear levels through which the player advances. These areas can be broken into 3 basic types:  The arena, the choke point, and the corridor. Much like art and basic geometric shapes, all the level designs in the game can broken into these basic elements(excepting the unique vehicle level design, which I simply call ‘the road’). By employing these level design elements in interesting dynamic ways, such as driving the player through a choke into an arena, the game can induce various emotional responses from the player.

First I’ll talk about the arena. Typically, the arena is a wide open area enclosed on all sides. There may or may not be a way out immediately, and it is common-place for the player to face grand challenges in this area. The level designers on Halo use this to stage epic battles in these areas, often accompanied by very difficult opponents. The player doesn’t come across what you’d call bosses through the game (except rarely). Rather he encounters very difficult combinations of enemies or, in the case of the large walking tanks, a challenge that requires a series of smaller tasks.

Because the game lines up the player with human allies who are fighting alongside him, the arenas are often in a state of fierce battle when the player gets there, or sometimes they become a trap. In the case of the trap, the player must be mindful of when things are too easy or an area seems too inviting. In either case they serve the useful purpose of staging battles that say to the player, ‘stand and fight’.

The arena helps the game feel a bit less restrictive. After all, the arenas range in size from the size of an elevator, to a lake bed. Within the arena the player is free to roam around in an open environment, often with a vehicle. But, at times it is necessary to make the player feel restricted, or to give him the impression that he must go a certain way. For these reasons there is the corridor.

In Halo 3 it’s often deadly if you don’t have an escape. Especially on the higher difficulties, strategies like kiting become key. So, by decreasing the player’s movement the designer may increase the tension on that player. This is where corridors come in handy. For example, in the bowels of the flood-ridden ship, movement is very tight. Often you find yourself with you back against a wall, and several powerful enemies on your other side. This is, I believe, what makes the flood ship so intense.

In terms of the game’s progression, using corridors in the flood ship was the perfect mood setter. The player has been fighting brutes and ants most of the game in jungles. Now the player, clearly near the end of his campaign, is thrust into the belly of the beast. If I may borrow a musical term, it is like the bridge which connects the body of the game to its conclusion.

A game simply wouldn’t be a game without choke points. It becomes necessary, in any design, to bring the player to a certain area where he might witness events, or be forced into confrontation. Choke points serve the purpose of facilitating these events by narrowing the scope of the player’s movement near, and sometimes right to, zero.

In Halo 3, where cut scenes act as keynotes to the player’s mission objectives, the use of choke points serve a primary purpose of bringing the player the story. The designers do a good job of telegraphing these events by populating the choke points with obvious signs. For example, a group of soldiers is waiting by a door as if preparing to burst through. Or a couple vehicles are idling as the player nears an open road. These points help guide the player to key elements as well as tell him, visually, that something important is going on here.

Choke points serve another valuable purpose as well. While fighting through the levels the player goes through states of tension and release. The careful attention paid to these states is what the designers use to push the player further into their game. For example, a common level design tactic is to place a corridor leading into an arena. The player is fighting through the corridor with medium resistance. After traversing the corridor the player enters the arena. There he faces a greater challenge. And, conveniently placed, is a choke point on the other side of the arena. In effect the player is given his mission without words: Master the arena to gain access to the choke on the other side. Once you have made it there, you can assume that your back side is safe.

Perhaps the simplest, and most important mechanic in Halo 3 is the idea of cover. From the very first level it becomes blatantly obvious to all but the densest of players that cover is key. The design of the levels center around the 3 basic areas, and within each of these areas there is some type of cover. The designers provide cover to both the player and the aliens to create and drive the confrontations.

Without getting too deep into the idea of cover, it’s important to note the effect it has on the player has he fights. If Halo is to be judged based on its ability to draw the player into itself, the designer’s use of cover in the levels is certainly one of its accolades. During battle, the player is trying to deal damage to the enemy while mitigating damage to himself. Using cover helps the player accomplish both of these goals. By moving form cover area to cover area, which the designers have made intuitive, but not contrived, the player will feel excited as he muscles the aliens out of position and kills them.

The last level design construct I want to cover is the use of tactical vantages. Through the game there are areas provided to both the player and the aliens that give them clear advantages. For example, in arenas where the player is forced into a corner, some of the aliens may use jet packs to jump onto the walls, thus giving them un-barred access to the player’s only refuge. Here we see that vantage points can be used to create near impossible situations for the player.

 Another, more specific example, occurs when the player is riding up the elevators to deactivate the pillars of the shields. At the top of each elevator, the player faces a large force of difficult enemies. When the player reaches , he is shielded by a wall of glass. This allows him to survey the corridor area in front of him, at the head of which is the most powerful enemy he’ll have to face. I liken this area to the scene in Star Wars where Obi Wan is faced with the Sith behind impenetrable walls of energy. It’s like a face off in which the hero/player may formulate his attacks without immediate fear.

It is implementations like these that allow Halo 3 to drive the player further into its levels. Like a good book that keeps leading the reader on, the levels’ designs urge the player on. This may be why the franchise has been so successful, aside from the popular multiplayer experience. Of course the levels would be boring were it not for the primary opposing force within them: the enemies.

Enemies

 

Halo 3 utilizes high energy combat to drive the player deeper into its universe. During the campaign, the player will face horde after horde of aliens, some more powerful than others, and their technology. The enemy aliens in Halo 3 are the primary source of challenge for the player. It is the clever use and proper balance of these enemies that render the game such a success.

From the first Halo, the most striking feature of the alien forces has been their teamwork. By giving so much attention to the realism of enemy decision making, the designers were able to provide a richer experience to the player, who may be jaded by the predictability typical AI responses. The teamwork element of the enemy’s design provides appropriate challenge to the player b y causing him to think about his strategy, rather than simply running and gunning.

With the player’s experience in mind, the Halo 3 designers carefully crafted enemy confrontations that would challenge the player. Each confrontation is custom tailored to the given area in which the player faces the enemies and takes advantage of the landscape and enemy tactics to create a challenging experience.

By using a combination of scripted events and programmed AI the aliens appear to intelligently combat with the player. It must have been difficult to design an experience where the player feels like a one man army fighting a vastly more numerous opponent. But, with the proper mix of cowardice, brutish stupidity, and tactical positioning the enemy feels natural and menacing.

The most memorable enemy tactic for me was the enemy charging when they had the advantage. I remember one particular instance, once again, at the top of the elevators as the player is attempting to de-activate the shields. I discovered the ambush as I carefully moved toward the back of the room. As I left the platform and journeyed into the room I noticed the enemy getting much more aggressive, and the big guy in the back with the gravity hammer start to approach. Scared, I jumped back onto the platform and hid behind the glass. After that I noticed all the enemies take cover again where they could take pot shots at me.

This is a perfect example of the episodic type of combat in Halo 3. First the player is introduced to his enemy, overtly in this example, where he will either notice his goal, or be told it through story elements. Next, the player encroaches on the enemy up which he is introduced to the initial resistance, usually little guys who will run in circles and scream. Sometimes, as in this case, the player is immediately ambushed. It’s right about here that the player will have discovered the tactics that will win the battle through observation and experience. Usually, near the end, the player is lured into an open area in which he must simply fight well. And finally, the player makes his way through whatever area he was fighting through and reaches his goal. It’s almost like a mini story each time the player encounters the aliens, with an intro, build, climax/twist, resolution.

An important design consideration for Halo 3 must have been the strength of each individual enemy. It’s pretty obvious which enemies have the most hit points from their size and brutish appearance. But there are so many different ways in which the enemies are given strengths that the player must never let down his guard. For example, the sniper enemies are absolutely deadly when they have the advantage of range and/or the high ground. Forcing the player to consider his enemies’ strengths causes him to become more invested in the situation, A simple design tactic, but nonetheless effective.

It’s almost never enough to simply leave the enemy lineup to chance. While doing so may increase the supposed reality of a game, you have so much more opportunity to craft and control the player’s experience through careful consideration of which enemies to use. In accordance with its confrontation patterns, Halo 3 usually has a very challenging and relevant lineup of enemies for the player.

The choice of enemies for each area takes into consideration the landscape, available cover, and the player’s disposition. For example, during times when the player is proceeding cautiously it may be advantageous to confront him with a surprise sniper attack to throw him off his guard. Or, at times when the player is in an arena with no escape, confronting him with a crowd of large melee brutes will force his adrenaline to pump. Its situations like these that illuminate the importance of considering the enemy lineup carefully, and force the player to think about his strategy.

Analysis: Guitar Hero 5

The Guitar Hero series has given life to the rock star in each of us. I’ve never felt more alive playing a game than I did the first time I played Raining Blood. Activision has refined the musical game genre in their own way which culminated in their release of Guitar Hero 5. Proposed to be the ‘best’ Guitar Hero game to date, Guitar Hero 5 employs many of the familiar game mechanics from previous versions while implementing some cool new ones.

Its hard for me to evaluate this game on a marketable level. For me, the best Guitar Hero ever made was 3. Why? It had the hardest songs, and focused on my favorite instrument. I can still remember hearing the buzz after the game had been out for a while. Most people were complaining about how ‘difficult’ the gamewas, and how a better difficulty ramp would make the game more enjoyable.

I don’t think this sentiment was isolated, as Activision’s next installment of the series featured a much easier track set, and incorporated a new difficulty for those who simply wouldn’t pick up the guitar at all: Beginner. This was a good move, as it made the game accessible to anybody. My 5 year old son could now play songs, and beat them.

Ever since Guitar Hero 3, and Dragon Force, Activision has been steadily transitioning from the fan boys to the ‘rest of us.’ With their latest release they produced a game that is fun for anybody who picks it up and plays. The mechanics provide challenge, reward, variety, and re-playability. In this paper I will focus on the reward and challenge aspects of the game mechanics.

Challenge

 

One of the most compelling features of the Guitar Hero series and, indeed, most other games in the music genre is the challenge. Whether it’s using your fingers, your arms, your feet(DDR), or your voice you must employ control, speed, and accuracy to achieve the best score possible while at the same time avoiding mistakes which will cause failure.

The basest mechanic to GH5 is the notes. Each song is comprised of a set of notes which the player must use some type of controller interaction in order to ‘hit.’ So it can be said that the base challenge of GH5 is ‘hitting notes.’ Of course, there are challenges layered on top of this base which give the game variety and increase the challenge but, in order to win, the player must unavoidably learn how to hit the notes.

This base mechanic provides the core challenges to the player. In order to hit the notes the player must master the controller he is using. Hitting notes challenges his timing by forcing him to ‘hit’ the note as it crosses the threshold. This raises yet another base mechanic of the game: All notes approach the player in a specific pattern which the player must react to before they reach the threshold. This puts GH on par, mechanically, with games like Space Invaders, and Zoop.

Note patterns

GH5 is a musical game and, as such, uses conventions common to musical instruments. In order to simulate the true experience of playing a musical instrument, like a guitar, the designers arranged the notes of the song into patterns. The patterns not only help the player feel like he is actually playing the song but it provides the player opportunities to learn and get better at songs. For example, there are times when I come across a new riff in a song. I may fail it horribly the first time around, but when it comes again I’m ready for it. These kinds of patterns are present in music as well as other games and help players to progress.

As a side note: it’s important in skill related games like GH5 or DDR to provide the player with enough help that he will get better and, ultimately, master the game. But, on the other side of the coin, if the game is too easy it gets boring quickly. There is a fine balance between too much, and not enough help. Activision designers provided adequate help in the design of their songs through note placement and punishment for missed notes. In other words, the challenge feels right, as you play the game.

In a game like GH 5 the sky is the limit when it comes to challenging the player. Initially, it’s enough simply to learn the different instruments. But, after the player can hold his own he will seek new challenges. The game provides the player with a score based on how well he did in a song. This mechanic allows the player to test himself against previous accomplishments as well as the skill of other players. So, driving his score higher, the player is virtually never left without a challenge.

In order to add a layer of challenge on top of simply hitting notes and getting the highest score possible, the game employs the multiplier mechanic. The more notes you hit in a row, the higher your score multiplier goes. This gives the player even greater incentive to play well as his score will grow faster as he plays perfectly. The note multiplier is largely a passive challenge. Playing through the game on expert, the player can usually 5 star each song without maintaining a 4x multiplier most of the time.

However, there are times when the multiplier is your only way to get 5 stars on a song(5 stars being a good base rubric for determining success in the game). For example, the songs which have very difficult solos near the middle or end of the song. I cite an example from GH3: Cult of Personality.  Playing most of CoP is fairly easy. But, as you get about 65% through the song, you hit the solo(anybody who’s played the song knows what I mean). For me, it’s a challenge to get through the solo without using Star Power. If my performance during the solo were used to give me a star, I would probably end up with 3 stars every time. But, since I can maintain a 4x multiplier through most of the song I can consistently get 5 stars on the song.

This also illustrates how Activision has set the bar for its difficulty. Even in songs where there are incredibly difficult sections, most players can make it through if they manage their resources efficiently. That is, learn to play the easy parts well, and save star power for the difficult parts. Its simply a question of balance, if the designers had given star power a smaller duration, or made the base score for 5 stars higher, fewer players would succeed in the song, and vice versa.

At the core of challenge in GH5 is the difficulty you play on. Each difficulty has unique traits and conventions tailored to the players of the game. Activision did well in designing each difficulty to target a specific group of people as well as linking these difficulty in a  way that promotes advancement. In other words, moving from easy to medium, and medium to hard flows naturally with adequate challenge.

Perhaps the best invention Activision added to their GH series from GH3 was the beginner difficulty. This provides a means for children to play as well as that girl at the party who simply wont play because she always fails. Its no secret that the GH series has gotten easier with each new release. This move broadened the fan base of the game significantly which, in economic terms, is never a bad thing.

As for the other difficulties, the time tested mechanics are still successful. Limiting the number of frets the player has to deal with teaches them the basics of hitting notes, timing, and common game mechanics. Moving up the difficulty ladder introduces more advanced mechanics, like hammer ons and pull offs which give the player the ability to play very fast sections of notes. Overall the progression of difficulty is designed well.

An interesting new addition to the mechanics of the GH series was the song challenges. Each song is associated with a instrument specific challenge or a band challenge. In order to complete all 3 levels of the challenge the player must perform a specific task such as maintaining a multiplier or using the wammy bar for so much time during the song. This extra layer of player challenge adds to the array of activities a player can participate in while playing the game. It also gives seasoned GH players like myself something to tide us over during the first part of the career when the songs are fairly easy.

Rewards

 

Because the story line of the game is fairly weak, the game must give the player some other reward than simply beating the game. The designers incorporated a vast myriad of rewards to the player based on their performance. The player receives these rewards both in real time, as he is playing, and after the song is finished. Rewards scale based on the players performance during the songs thus giving him incentive to play better.

One of the most important reward mechanisms in the game is the crowd. The crowd provides real time feed-back on the  player’s performance, cheering when the player is doing well, and booing when the player plays badly. Not only is this instant reward a good motivator during difficult parts, but it simulates the actual experience, to a degree, of playing live music. That simulation, combined with the stunning concert visuals played behind the notes produces the main ambiance of the game play itself. Also, the digital crowd and concert helps get the other people in the room involved in the game as well which is a great indirect game mechanic for parties.

The primary reward with reference to story mode progression is the acquisition of stars. The base method for obtaining stars is playing the songs well. A player may earn up to a base score of 5 stars for any given song if he plays well, and 6 stars if he plays perfectly. Playing the songs well enough to earn 5 stars consistently will advance the player through venues at about 4 songs a venue. However, on top of the base star earnings from a player’s final score of a song, the player may earn up to 3 extra stars per song if he fulfills the challenge for that song(mentioned earlier.)

Giving the player this added dimension of play enables the player to move through the career faster(which is in itself a reward) but it also enables the player to set his score apart from others based on extra effort. This provides the all-important-to-skill-based-games reward, bragging rights.

On top of scoring, and earning stars, a player earns money as he plays songs. This mechanic provides a means of economy to the game. The player may take the money he earns and spend it on new guitars, characters,songs,etc… These rewards add re-playability to the game by increasing its content laterally. Also, the money helps the player feel more immersed in the ‘gig’.

Near the top of the importance list of instant rewards are the visuals the player earns as he progresses. There are the cut-scenes the player can watch, as well as the final movie. It seems the importance of these elements has waned over the evolution of the GH series, peaking with GH 3. Other visual rewards help motivate the player as well.

During actual game-play, the player is practically bombarded with visual rewards. The most basic and common of these rewards(and perhaps the least noticed) is the cool flame that jumps out of the cylinders on the fret board as the player hits notes. This small visual reward helps reinforce the reward of hitting each note, as well as making the player feel cool, like Jimi Hendrix.

There has been quite a bit of controversy about the visual rewards of the game, at least in my circles. Some enjoy the note streak notifications, for example, and some find them to be annoying. In my experience, the more skilled a player is, the more he sees the notifications, and the less he is bothered by them. That being said, from a design standpoint, the rewards are an excellent motivation. I often find myself in anticipation of the next streak notification which causes my adrenaline to increase. If anything I would suggest some delineation in the style of the notifications. For example, every 200 notes the notification could vary, and possibly at 1000 notes.

Who can forget what the game is all about? The most rewarding experience for me, while playing GH games, is jamming along to my favorite songs, and feeling like a rock star while I do. The reward of playing well to the songs that you used to sing to on the radio gives the player a rush, and sense of familiarity which boosts his enthusiasm. These motivations are so powerful because they are the hardest, at times, to invoke in youth. That is why these types of games will always have success, even after they boom, and fade in popularity. Hey, playing Guitar Hero well sure beats singing karaoke badly.

Analysis: Fallout 3

Intro

 

Ever wonder what it’s like to be in the game? Bethesda made a strong bid to grant you that experience in their game: Fallout 3. Centered around immersive mechanics, Fallout 3 is a triumph of design and story that leaves very little to the imagination of its sci-fi/fantasy players. 

Nobody will argue that Fallout 3 is a beautiful game (at least nobody who sat atop Tenpenny Tower and witnessed the megaton light show). I want to dissect the game design and, hopefully, shed some light on what made this game such a successful RPG/FPS. 

Like Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, the game features a strong RPG core, effectively employing character development, item management, and NPC interaction. Fallout 3, however, brings some fantastic new battle mechanics as well as a massive new world to explore. As a player, you will find yourself addicted to the incredible amount of possibilities this world provides. 

Interaction

 

Unlike the Metal Gear series, who effectively build the fourth wall behind the player, the  universe of Fallout 3 is carefully encapsulated allowing the player to interact with it only in ways that he might expect to do as one of its citizens. Thus the player feels totally steeped in the world. There is a myriad of ways in which the player may interact with the universe, all of which are crafted to produce a totally immersive experience.

You walk into your first town outside of Vault 101. Upon entering the mayor comes to greet you with a friendly warning: Be good, or be dead(essentially) This is a great example of the game’s ability to engage the player, it tells the player, “you are being watched” and “the choices you make have an impact on the world/people around you”

Environment interactions, both outgoing and incoming, are core to the game’s ability to suspend disbelief and lure the player into emotional experiences. When the player attacks a person, for example, he has initiated an encounter with another person. Not a set of digital content, abstracted into an NPC within a digital universe, but a person. And that person will react in predictable and realistic ways. Maybe he will run and cower, maybe he will fight back, or maybe he will get his friends.

It felt like the reactions were a bit too predictable at times. It seems like more realism could have been employed in some sort of threat assessment algorithm. For example, if you ran up to and punched a woman while unarmed, maybe the woman could have decided that her gun was more than enough to take you on(instead of running and screaming). That being said, there seemed to be some compensation for this mindset: There was a mercenary guarding the storekeeper in megaton, for example.

Interacting with npcs provides an added dimension of immersion. For example, I went and talked to one of the residents of megaton. After asking him a couple questions, he mentioned a couple other residents who were no longer alive(for various reasons). I was admittedly surprised at this as I’ve never played a game where characters are given secondary knowledge of another NPC’s death(that wasn’t scripted to happen) Furthermore, unlike just about any other free roaming RPG, you can’t simply walk away from a talking person.  You must end the conversation by saying, “good bye” or something to that effect.

The immersion factor of the game’s interactions is not limited to that of NPC interactions. The player has many options when he wishes to interact with the environment, which provide creative ways of performing standard game mechanics. I love the menu system(The armband). Not only is it integrated into the universe of the game, but it feels a menu should. The flow is efficient between sections and the options are arranged well within the space provided.

Scarcity

 

Another game mechanic which supports the game’s immersion factor is the idea of scarcity. The player is dropped into a world which is strapped for money and food. There, he must use the resources available to him to explore this world and fend for himself. In effect, the player must be constantly concerned with what he is using and how much of it to use.

First and foremost is the importance of weapons and ammo. While playing the game, I never felt comfortable with any one weapon for very long because I knew that once its ammo was depleted I probably would not be getting more soon. Typically in RPGs, a player may explore a hostile area, kill monsters there, and sell the stuff back to a store owner who seemed to have an infinite supply of funds and a desire to stockpile  tons of garbage. In Fallout 3, however, the  store owners have a limited supply of funds, as well as goods, themselves. The standard RPG economy simply does not apply here.  I’m not sure how I feel about this. I like the ability to make money, and I like a reliable source of income when it comes to game economy. I understand the importance of this mechanic relative to immersion, but I feel like the ultimate limit that was placed on the economy could have been reworked to give players like myself more options(like opening up a store of our own and selling stuff that way.)

In light of these economic conditions within the game it is necessary to pay attention to the particular weapon you are using. The player then must choose the best weapon to fight the enemies at hand. (forcing the player  to make choices like these, where they have to figure out the best solution to the problem without being fed this information up front is the hallmark of great design IF done correctly. I cite Command & Conquer  1 as a bad example of this, and Metal Gear Solid 4 as a good example(lateral thinking)) Sometimes the player would be forced to use a weapon that makes the challenge even more difficult(like a melee weapon against super mutants) because they don’t have the ammo, or want to save it for more dire circumstances. These situations required even more skill, and are yet another great permutation of a simple mechanic: scarcity.

Consequence

 

Simply put, if you murder the guy who is going to train you to use power armor, than you might not get to use power armor, need I say more? Well I’m going to. The best way to teach a  child is through natural consequence. It forces the child to deal with the results of his actions and teaches him that consequences are unavoidable. Thus the saying, “you can choose the choice, but not the consequence to the choice.”

Fallout 3 employs consequential mechanics in various ways, one of which is murder. There are two flavors of RPG, those that allow you to attack town npc, and those that don’t.  Usually when you are given the choice to attack town npcs, it isn’t used as a story driven mechanic. Its simply to provide an immersive experience through the gift of ‘choice.’ You are saying to the player, “go ahead, kill that shop owner. Whatever floats your boat.” Of course, in Fallout 3, that choice carries certain consequences: any quests that npc might have given you are gone, and any quests that npc is involved in may be gone as well. But, the designers took the idea even further by providing the player opportunities to attack/kill/enslave npcs in town and gain rewards for them.

Of course it would be nearly impossible to go over every consequential mechanic in the game, but one thing can be said of each of them. They are all crafted to provide an immersive experience to a player seeking to enter another world, and they add to the success of the game almost without exception.(I always felt a little bit shafted when I couldn’t sleep in a bed, even after the owner was murdered)

Conclusion

 

This review has been, by no means, a non-biased one. I am not here, however, to sell the game or defame it. I believe the success of the game communicates itself through playing it, or even talking to somebody who has played it. Whether the game was a success or not is not really important in this paper. That being said, I don’t think anybody would claim that the design behind the game isn’t solid or that it wasn’t executed as well as it could have been.

The mechanics and design elements that were used to craft the game form a cohesive and awesome whole, A whole that present players with no less than an engaging and fun experience. The game was an ingenious mesh of an RPG base and FPS action elements that, when combined, formed a truly unique experience.