One game design exercise to rethink the past while looking at the present

This semester, I’d like to propose my students one interesting exercise from the book “The ultimate guide to video game writing and design”. Though I’ve made some modifications, the main idea is to recreate a modern game in an old fashioned way.

Some steps are necessary for this mission:

1) Choose one game from the last generation of consoles (Playstation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch) and mobile devices (Android and iOS). The more complex, the better.
2) Try to imagine and recreate the game for the Atari platform (keep the essence of the narrative and few elements from the mechanics).
3) Using samples and print screens from Atari’s games, build a few simple interfaces for the game. This will be a big challenge. In some way, the interface must resemble some core visual elements.
4) Create a prototype for the cartridge cover.

Below, is one example that I created for this post using the game THE LAST OF US.


I tried to maintain the shooting mechanics with stealth. Characters must use the stairs simultaneously to reach the other side of the screen. In a minimalist way, I tried to keep the essence of the "clickers" enemies. Interface is very simple with stamina and ammunition.


The new game's cover is an homage to a very similar story - the movie LOGAN.

To the check the main idea from THE LAST OF US, watch the trailer below:



Many people are creating modern-retro-art for Atari games, you can check out some interesting examples in this link.

#GoGamers

---

Reference:

DILLE, Flint; PLATTEN, John Zuur. The ultimate guide to video game writing and design. New York: Skip Press, 2007

What we can learn from Atari's Keystone Kapers

I always like to replay some old classic games from the Atari generation. Not only because of the nostalgia, but to find some simple game design solutions to inspire myself to create new ludic stuff.

This week, I was playing the excellent KEYSTONE KAPERS (Activision, 1983) and I'll talk a little bit about some interesting features from this game, in this post.



I played this game a lot when I was a child and it is a masterpiece until today. The narrative is about a cop chasing a thief inside a kind of a shopping mall. Before discussing some highlights from the game, I invite you to watch the gameplay; please, pay special attention to the brilliant multi-floor scenario linked by a lift.



For a game from the beginning of the 1980's KEYSTONE KAPERS is a very advanced ludic experience. Three important game design points to observe in this title are:

1. Multiple interesting dangers with increasing difficulty throughout the levels. The scenario is always the same, as well as the speed of the two characters; so, objects thrown by the villain against the hero move differently. The shopping cart moves in a straight line, the balls kick, the airplane occupies the top of the floor etc. with a progressing level of speed. About this, Brathwaite and Schreiber (2009, p.100) remember us that "video games that have a sequence of levels, simply start off easy and become progressively more difficult as times goes on" and we can see this feature in classic arcade games.

2. Twitch decision-making. KEYSTONE KAPERS starts slow and becomes fast level by level (as we can see in the previous video). In the beginning of the game, it's possible to run only on the floors, use the stairs and catch the thief. However, in the high levels you must use the lift to capture the villain. Brathwaite and Schreiber (2009, p.101,102) teach us that there are five basic twitch mechanics: pure speed, timing, precision, avoidance, and time pressure. In some way, we can identify these five elements in the gaming interface.

3. Minimal and clear art direction integrated with the gameplay. Everybody knows how difficult it was to create games for Atari platform using minimal resources and few bits for programming, sounds and interface. In KEYSTONE KAPERS, we have a very strategic use of every single element. It's possible to clearly identify all the objects, the scenario, the characters and the gaming interface elements (points, lives etc.). All these features cooperate to create a good gameplay; a good art direction establishes logical dynamics for a good gameplay experience.

Once more, we can find inspiration in some treasures from the past. I usually call it "ludic archeology". If you want to read more about this subject, click here.

#GoGamers

---

References:

BRATHWAITE, Brenda & SCHREIBER, Ian. CHALLENGES FOR GAME DESIGNERS: non-digital exercises for video game designers. USA: Cengage, 2009.

Missile Command: a game design class in Atari platform

I have played many Atari games in the last weeks. From time to time, I have this nostalgic feeling and I start to remember the good old classics from my childhood. In these “archeological sessions”, I once again played this masterpiece: Missile Command. Well, this one has special importance for me because it’s the very first game that I have ever played in Atari and I can perfectly remember the experience.



Missile Command is a class in game design. Seriously. Everybody that is developing or researching games must, at least one time, play this Atari title. The interface is very simple, but the idea is elegant and instigating: you are in the control of a defense tower and must destroy waves of missiles to protect six cities. The game goes like this: you need to move a crosshair across the screen to launch a counter-missile from the appropriate battery. Before continue the reading, take some minutes to watch the gameplay below and play the game in this online version (click here).



Missile Command offers some excellent points to discuss the game designing process. Let’s put them in a short list to dwell over:

1) Minimalistic design: with a few pixels is possible to create an instigating gameplay (the game’s cover tells the narrative to the player).

2) Procedural information: stage after stage the missiles become faster. It’s important to understand the patterns of the game to launch the counter-missile in the right place.

3) Elegant game mechanics: point, click and destroy. As simple as that. Missile Command has one interesting and inspiring mechanism. We can reimagine this process in lots of other situations (specially for mobile platforms).

4) Infinite gameplay: Missile Command has no end. You play it until all cities are destroyed. It’s a test for higher rankings, a very common logic in mobile games.

The simplicity from Atari is one point to be highlighted nowadays. In times of extreme complexity in many games, it’s good to look back and find inspiration to create objective, simple and rich new experiences.

#GoGamers

Tooth Protectors: an Atari advergame

This game is one of my favorite examples for my game design classes. In 1983, in a partnership with Atari, Johnson & Johnson launched a curious game named Tooth Protectors. The experimental project inserted some features from the modern advergames in its interface and it’s possible to see the brand in the opening screen with some product placement (toothbrush, dental floss and mouthwash).



The game mechanics is very simple and the player must protect teeth from the attack of the cavities. You earn points by folding the harmful elements that fall from the top of the screen. In the video below you can have an idea of the game:



Despite being very simple, Tooth Protectors is the precursor of many examples we see today and a good example of how to do a “ludic archeology”. It’s important to observe that the main branding elements - even in a rudimentary way - are all represented in the proposed interface.



We have other good examples of advergames from Atari platform. I intend to discuss deeply in another post doing a presentation with other examples of different gaming generations.

Go gamers!

Using fear as narrative in video games: origins

In the last few years we had lots of iconic survival horror games launched around the world for video game consoles. Just to give a few examples, we can bring to our discussion Silent Hill 4: The Room (Playstation 2, 2004), Slender (Parsec Productions, 2012) and Alan Wake (Microsoft Game Studios, 2010). All these games are very scary and possess sophisticated features in their narratives but it’s important to look to the past to understand the origins of horror in video games.



One of the first horror narratives in video game was used in an Atari game named Haunted House (Atari, 1982). With very limited interface and resources, the game creates a classic horror movie atmosphere with a house full of bats, phantoms and traps. The player commands a pair of eyes in the dark trying to find pieces of an ancient ark.

You can check a game play video below:



The game is very simple and there’s a fundamental detail that puts the player inside the gaming reality: the illustration on the cover of the box. The drawing dialogues with the player about the ambient of the game, and it’s possible to understand better the game mechanics (a good text about this subject could be found here).

Video game origins

By Vince

A long time ago, in the beggining of the 80's started a great video game revolution with the Atari system.

A lot of titles from this time became the first inspiration for modern genres.

It's possible to see the first insights for FPSs and RPGs in these primitive interfaces.

Let's check some curious examples:


Battle Zone X Battlefield 3


Dark Chambers X Diablo 3


Enduro X Forza


Pitfall X Limbo


Tennis X Virtua Tennis 3

It's possible to create a huge list. Send suggestions and enjoy!

Szia!