Experience and Live - Not Compete and Beat

What follows are some thoughts on exactly where I want videogames to evolve. At the exact same time it is also a sort of explanation of the core design objectives for Frictional Games. It is not meant to describe how to do issues, alternatively it as try to describe how we want our videogame experiences to be like.


When reading a excellent book, I get drawn into its planet and really feel component of the events that unfold. However the happenings are just figments of my imagination. There is a a single way feed of data and I have no decision of exactly where to concentrate the writer is my guide and points out specifics to discover and choses what path to take. Nevertheless I feel immersed in the environments and close to the characters, evoking powerful feelings inside me. To be component of this journey by means of engrossing and enriching worlds is a single of the significant enjoyments for me when reading books. When a piece of fiction truly hooks me, it is an great expertise and I truly really feel like I am inside the fictional planet.

Still, I am not there, the environment does not kick back, only current as a stream of prefabricated perception that I tap into. When creating a video game, we can take a step further and create anything that in a sense is really there. Something that I can see by means of my own eyes, letting me choose where and how to explore. This is extremely potent stuff and one thing that needs consideration. The opportunity to create alternative realties lie at our fingertips, yet it seems to be that the opportunity is not taken. Alternatively of focusing on planet constructing and feelings, the realities inside videogames are wrapped in abstract rule systems exactly where the environmental knowledge is secondary to the core guidelines and competitive elements.

Some games do touch upon this sort of creation of realities, but is nearly constantly bogged down by game guidelines that destroy the "living in a globe"-expertise in some manner. For example, I thought that the initial element of Bioshock (and some later components) exactly where you could just go about and explore the locations where remarkable. At times I truly felt component of the great underground city. Sadly, most of the game was filled competitive combat sections, spoiling considerably of the expertise for me. Other games, like The Void, have an intriguing premise and imaginative environments, but holds me back with very punishing gameplay creating it quite challenging for me to immerse myself in the game's planet. A lot of adventure game also suffer from this and contain, numerous times obscure, puzzles that halt progress and pulls me out of the game's planet.

Of course videogames with quite game-like rule sets are not negative, they can be very rewarding and must not cease to exist. I love solving puzzle and trying to overcome unforgiving platform sections. But occasionally, I just want to be immersed in another globe, explore and be component of an engaging knowledge. However, virtually often when I try a game exactly where I consider I will get this, I am place inside a competition with me against a the pc/designer. This does not mean that all challenge ought to be removed, as encountering obstacles can be useful for immersion in the globe, but it ought to not be the focus when making an alternative reality. It is also worth noting that I am not right after being spoon fed a story, but a videogame exactly where engaging (let it be sad, fun, disturbing, and so forth) expertise in a fictional realm is the principal goal.

Sadly, these sort of games are few, to the point of not really current. As an alternative, practically all videogames have as a core purpose to challenge the player, and to be one thing that is meant to be beaten. I would like to see much more games exactly where the principal objective is to make the player reside an encounter, to engage the player in a globe and to evoke a wide variety of feelings. I would like to start off a game and be taken to yet another world, exactly where I can focus on becoming immersed in an alternate reality instead of worrying about headshots, experience points or the answer to a sliding puzzle.

To make the player turn out to be component of a fictional planet has been a aim for us at Frictional Games given that we began operating on Penumbra and it is still our principal purpose when making Amnesia: The Dark Descent. We know we still have a lot left to discover and are stuck in numerous traditional game conventions. But we make positive to try out new issues, noticing what works and what doesn't as we go along. Hopefully this will take us increasingly closer to the aim of producing an experience that is not played but lived.