Three basic layers to observe/analyze games

There is a very complete (and complex) way to analyze and understand games proposed by Nitsche (2008) that I have already discussed in here. I have used this idea from Nitsche, semester after semester, in my game-designing classes, and it is a very didactic way to explain to the students the different planes in the gaming ecosystem.

However, since 2018 I’ve been teaching a discipline named “game essentials” in my university's IT course. It is an introductory (and general) approach to understand different bases of the gaming universe. Trying to synthesize some complex concepts, I’m discussing with my students the three fundamental layers to analyze games: the mechanical layer, the narrative layer, and the aesthetical layer. In an attempt to create the habit of always trying to identify which layer is predominant in a gaming experience I ask my students to grade – from 0 to 10 – these three aspects of the game. I’ll use as an example below, a short analysis that I made using the indie game “She remembered caterpillars”. Don’t know the game? No worries, you can watch the trailer below and understand the central idea of this title:



“She remembered caterpillars” is a color-matching puzzle game with an unsettling organic aesthetic. In my point of view, the mechanical layer is the protagonist in this experience (grade 10) because all the gaming experience – in its core – is about solving the puzzles by positioning the characters in the right places of the scenario, respecting the color rules (ex.: blue character can go through a blue bridge put can’t go through a blue arch); another interesting point about the mechanics is the fact that you start the game using characters created with primary colors (red, blue and yellow) and, as the game progresses, you start mixing the characters to use secondary colors (purple, green and orange) to solve the enigmas.

In “She remembered caterpillars”, the aesthetical layer is just as important as the mechanical layer (grade 10 for this aspect too). How the characters were conceived with distinct colors, how these colors are always highlighted in the scenario, and how the layout information about the goal of each stage is always clear are nuclear features. In this game, the aesthetic aspects go hand in hand with the mechanical aspects all the time.



Last, but not least, we have a very curious narrative layer inside the “She remembered caterpillars” example. In this title, players eavesdrop on what appears to be one scientist’s quest to save her father. The surreal landscapes filled with organic elements, fungi plants, and cute characters look like some kind of metaphor for the despair to reconstruct some brain connections. In this case, my grade for this layer is 5; it’s a great narrative (if you stop to read the texts and pay attention) but you can play the whole game ignoring all this metaphoric information and have a great gaming experience.

It’s a simple starting exercise to observe/analyze games in a more critical way, but it has worked very well in my introductory classes. Hope it helps you too.

#GoGamers

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Reference

NITSCHE, Michael. VIDEO GAME SPACES - image, play and structure in 3D worlds. Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2008

Game analysis: Starman

Last week I was searching for games on Nintendo Shop to play on my Switch and I came across a game that was costing only 89 cents (!). The game icon immediately caught my attention and the name “Starman'' evoked good feelings in my mind. I downloaded the game, a production created by Nada Studios (a Spanish indie game company) and had a great surprise.



Starman echoes games like Limbo and Monument Valley. A depressive and beautiful atmosphere runs through the game where you must complete a series of nine stages filled with excellent (and clever) puzzles.



Each level takes you to a different oniric scenario. You control a character that, in a moment, is a retro club with a pool and, in another, is in a sci-fi movie environment. Starman invites us to participate in an interesting co-creation exercise with the game designers behind the gaming experience.

The music is a relaxing dark ambient soundscape and it fits perfectly in the gaming dark mood.

I played Starman entirely last week. I avoided searching for hints on the internet and finished the game by myself. It’s available also for mobile platforms.

The kind of game that I presently look for in my life: a strange narrative with immersive puzzles and minimal design.

Search for it! And congrats to the brothers @eiprol and @jeicob for the game!

#GoGamers

Blending narrative, art and mechanics in a majestic way: the immersive experience of “The gardens between”

Attention: this post contains spoilers from the game “The gardens between”

I’ve been playing games since I was a child. Now 41 years old, I’m proud to say that I've been a videogame player since the first generation of consoles that were raised on Earth. I’m a lucky person that has had the opportunity to play many kinds of different games in the last 38 years.

Unfortunately, today, I don’t have time to play all the games I want. So, when I’m choosing a game to play I’m very meticulous; I talk with gamer friends, I watch YouTube reviews and I try to read a lot about games. Nowadays, what do I search for in a game to play? I try to choose the minimum of three features: a good narrative, a creative gaming mechanics and an interesting aesthetic. If I can find a game with three of these features, I’ll probably play it with much more enthusiasm and immersion.

The last game I played that filled the three features was “The gardens between”.



I’ll start to talk about the narrative feature: the game is a beautiful story about two children on the last day they have together as neighbors; the boy is moving to another city and the story of the game is about them remembering the adventures of their childhood together.

The narrative feature is the basis for a stunning art direction: the game's atmosphere is full of childish elements but, on another hand, you can notice signs of fear, sorrow and depression. It’s about dark and light; about remembering the past but, at the same time, trying to move on.

To blend the narrative layer with the aesthetic layer we have a very interesting mechanics that uses time travel as the basis for puzzle solutions. The simplicity of the commands are great: you put the joystick to the right to advance the events in time, you put left and they come back to their original places. So, what’s the challenge? The game creates timing distortions to make the player constantly think about the sequence of movements he needs to make. Check the video below to understand how everything connects in “The gardens between”.



In this context it is interesting to say how we have a large list of indie games that can fill the previous features that I mentioned. Today, it’s not a privilege from the triple A games to have great narrative with stunning art and challenging mechanics. By the way, most of the time when I’m searching for this kind of game I’ll probably choose an indie to download.

#GoGamers

Six years of GAMING CONCEPTZ!

Six years of gaming content in 286 posts.

Thanks to the followers.

Long live to GAME ANALYTICZ!



Check the first post by clicking here.

#GoGamers

Keeping track of your gaming analysis: a personal approach to organizing notes for classes, meetings and projects

Working with game development requires a lot of references and annotations all the time. Sometimes, we need to find a good example for a game designing class; sometimes we need to reach for a fast good reference to explain some mechanics for a company’s gamification project. Or, maybe, we just need to remember a specific game to write an article or post about it. It helps a lot to have all that stuff at hand to create presentations, classes or academic content. In this post, I’ll share one method that I use to create and organize quick notes about the games I played.

1. Every single game I play is registered on an online document

I call this my “ludic journal”. I have one excel file on Google Docs where I register all played games in chronological order. For analogic games (card games, board games, dice games etc.) I write a note on the same day I played the title. For video games (console, PC, mobile etc.) I register it when I finish the game or when I have sufficiently experienced its core mechanics/narrative. It’s important to write fast to put personal impressions in the document. Usually, I write the game’s name, the day I played, give it a personal rate (one to five asterisks), summarize the game’s narrative/plot (if available), make a list of the core mechanisms and attach a pic. Like in the following example:

Title: CARCASSONNE
Type: board game
Date: December 11th 2007
Rate: * * *
Summary: Players are builders constructing the reign of Carcassonne in France. Using some special characters it’s possible to build roads, churches, castles and farms. When you finish one of these constructions, you earn points. The player with the most points wins the game. The game uses tiles and creates a very interesting design on the table and a random result at the end of each match.
Mechanisms: area control, area influence, tile placement.

2. Add tags to your notes

This second step helps me a lot. After describing the previous elements, I always create a list of tags for the game (a very personal “mix” of words to describe the game in its essence). This is very useful because it’s possible to find a game for a specific use doing a simple search for keywords in the system. Still using Carcassonne as an example, I wrote these tags for the game (tags, in this case, could be single words or even complete phrases):

Tags: Carcassonne; board game; tile game; France; historic context; build; competitive; area control; area influence; tile placement; clever graphic design; metaphor for architecture; useful for history classes; puzzle. 

This method helps me a lot to prepare content in many occasions. Last week I was preparing a class about “casual games”. A fast search in my document revealed 40 occurrences for this kind of game. So, I combine “casual games” with “funny narrative” and the system gave me 7 results. As I said: it’s a personal method. It could probably not be so useful for another person other than me, but this post is to inspire people to create their own methods.

3. I complement my notes using social networks
I like to create personal text registers for the games I have played, but I also like to organize visual references and gaming stuff in other platforms, too. My favorite place to store visual references is Pinterest. Check ot my GAMES, RPG and GAME DESIGN boards. It’s a very practical way to access ideas.

I’m preparing a second post about this subject with other personal methodologies to organize content for work. I hope it helped.

Now, on to your opinion!

#GoGamers