Liquid Crystal

Here’s a game designed around the simple joy of experimentation.  In Eets, the player places these little creatures around the screen in order to set up a chain of reactions to reach the always seemingly near goal.  Eets uses a colorful backdrop that not only features creatively designed puzzles, but pays considerable attention to the effects of the player’s actions.  Even a mistake can be satisfying to watch.   A miscalculation in placement could change a single explosion into a massive catastrophe that destroys the entire stage.

As I was playing it, I couldn’t help but think that the gameplay would be well-suited for the iPhone or iPod Touch.  A perfect match?

Eets by Klei Entertainment

The original artwork for Dragon Quest

While there are many who will fight over detail, perhaps we should take a step back and look at the benefits of ambiguity.  We sometimes get too involved with painting the picture that is in our head and forget that our audiences have a tool that can build worlds out of our foundations—their imagination.

Screenshot from Dragon Warrior

In 1989, the original Dragon Quest was released into the United States amid a number of changes.  Along with a new title, Dragon Warrior, the localization team took advantage of the game’s primitive graphics and changed the art that came packaged with it. While this was done to cater to western audiences and hopefully add to sales figures, it goes to show how Dragon Quest’s ambiguous graphics allow for several points of perspective.

I don’t want to advocate the complete reversal of the show, don’t tell mantra, but I believe authors of any media should pick their battles and think about where their viewers’ imaginations can fill in the blanks.  Ambiguity adds mystery and can allow for customized settings.  In addition to these benefits, a story can be re-examined years later and infused with new elements based on the new thoughts and memories of the viewer.  The words “ball of light” could illuminate like a glow stick to a child, but shine with an indescribable brilliance to an adult.

The revised artwork for Dragon Warrior

In the coming weeks, I will continue along these lines with articles about information hiding and division.  Until then, think about this—how do we add ambiguity to our work in an age of advanced graphics and where words are sparingly used?

A description would be missing the point—this is a game about discovery.  The minimalistic design approach keeps everything very focused and raises the player’s level of sensitivity to the environment.  If you have access to a Windows XP, you have to give this a try.  It’s short, brilliant, and one of a kind.

Illegal Communication by Cactus

Exploration is less about physical travel, and more about the mind.  It is not only about discovery, but the emotions involved.  While our natural instinct is to link a scene to exploration, Shigeru Miyamoto (Super Mario, Legend of Zelda) gives an example of exploration coming from within,

“Imagine the Spirit—the state of mind—of a kid when he enters a cave alone.  Going in, he must feel the cold air around him.  He must discover a branch off to one side and decide whether to explore or not.  Sometimes he loses his way.  If you go to the cave now, as an adult, it might be silly, trivial, a small cave.  But as a child, in spite of being banned to go, you could not resist the temptation.  It was not a small moment then.  This feeling must be realized in the game.”

So as designers, we must reevaulate what we see, and learn to understand what brings out these raw emotions.  Think of words to describe the scene.  For the aforementioned cave, we could say it is forbidden, unfamiliar, cold, dangerous, dim, and isolated.  What other words does the cave description bring to mind?

We’re a new indie game development team looking to push the concepts of exploration and creativity in interactive entertainment.  This blog will serve as a public document of our growth and development.  We’ll be sharing our tales of studying “the Nintendo difference,” art creation, and the finer points of game development along with specific game observations we discover.