Sunday, April 30, 2006
Low Commitment Games
This weekend was busy, but I did manage to get some actual game PLAYING in. After the whirlwind action of starting a new job, and preparing for the demo for Apocalypse Cow for the Utah Indie Game Developers' Meet, I didn't find much time over the last two weeks to actually enjoy playing a game.
But this weekend I managed to get in some quality Guitar Hero time (I nailed 5 stars for Bark At The Moon on Medium, which felt like an accomplishment!). One of the things that makes Guitar Hero awesome among Playstation games is that it's possible to plug it in, play, make progress, and save your game with only ten minutes to play. Now, once I'm going and playing, I usually put in a full half hour or more. But I find that I've got many games I just haven't bothered to try and play for months because I realize it requires a half-hour commitment JUST to get to a save point. But the seductive nature of Guitar Hero is that you can rip out a song or two, MAYBE improve over your previous best performance, and call it done --- though once you do that, you tend to go for "Just One More Song." But the lack of commitment gets me to play it.
Consequently, I'm going to be snagging Guitar Hero II the day it hits the shelves. I can't say the same for the sequels of some of these other games I've never finished because getting to the save points was too painful.
I also played a bit of RPG, Aveyond, for much the same reason. The game has no restrictions (so far as I have seen) to when you can save except for combat. It's easy to jump in and play because you only want a five or ten minute distraction in hopes of pulping a few monsters for gold and experience points. Then I get sucked in by the story, or find a new area, and the next thing I know I've lost a half an hour or an hour to this little roleplaying game. It seems it is very popular among non-hardcore gamers (for some of whom this is their first RPG)... It's another "Low Commitment Game."
It's not just the ease of saving the game that makes these games "low commitment" - it's the fact that if you play, you are only going to "improve" your game. If I were to jump into a saved game of Civilization, for instance, and might not have time to devote the attention to it that I should, there's a good chance I'll find my next saved game a worse situation than the previous. But in an RPG - or a game built around short sessions like Guitar Hero or Dance, Dance, Revolution - there's a high likelihood that I'll profit and improve my game in a measurable way even with a very short time commitment. So the reward is pretty constant even for "uncommitted" play.
This may be all old-news to Casual Game players and developers, but for me it's kind of an interesting observation of my own motivations and behaviors.
Labels: Aveyond, casual games, Roleplaying Games
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 9:22 PM (Permalink)
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Low Commitment is the future. It's great to have something to dip in and out of without having to set aside an hour or two.
Be warned: shameless plug coming.
My game's low commitment, I'd be interested to hear what you think. Fire it up, have a bout or two. It's disposable gaming.
Head to www.gibbage.co.uk for a free demo. Drop me an email to let me know what you think...
D
Be warned: shameless plug coming.
My game's low commitment, I'd be interested to hear what you think. Fire it up, have a bout or two. It's disposable gaming.
Head to www.gibbage.co.uk for a free demo. Drop me an email to let me know what you think...
D
There are 2 purposes to saving your game as I see it:
1. Long-term pause (basically what you are talking about)
2. Safety net (glad there's a save point right before this insane jumping puzzle!)
In my latest, I take #1 to an extreme, making a zero-commitment game. You can save anywhere, anytime, in the middle of swinging your axe, even in the middle of dying! It comes back exactly where it was. However, there is no #2. Saving quits the game. Luckily, you don't really need a safety net, since there is no penalty for dying other than to be zapped off to the last town you visited. It's kind of simulating an MMO, only one that stops when you're away.
However, just as a twist, that doesn't truly make it low-commitment. I don't think Aveyond is either. I've thought of starting it up sometimes and didn't because it's a big old RPG. Doesn't matter if I can save anywhere, it's still committing my brain to the story, to checking out my gear and seeing what needs upgrading, and so on.
Real low-commitment games are ones like Guitar Hero (although to me, no console game has a very low commitment - the start up time alone kills it! Especially on my dying PS2) or Unreal Tournament or Freecell... things where you can drop in and play from scratch. That is, you're not stepping into an existing complex scenario. You step into UT, you're walking into an existing match, but the only thing you need to know (if you even care) is who has the most points. Everything else is your own innate ability that you've been developing. Nothing to really remember (hmm, tricky thing - you do have to remember what the different weapons do and stuff, but that's a different type of knowledge than who needs the Gem Of Yendor. How to define that? Something about learning and repetition versus just being told a factoid).
If I haven't played an RPG in a while, I might as well delete it... even if it's got a journal system to track the quests and stuff. That helps, but going through and reading that... Still a big commitment.
And of course, let's not make a mistake: low commitment game isn't necessarily a better game than high commitment. It's a completely different experience. It can be great to pop in a round of UT, and it can be great to be immersed in huge strategy war too. It would be a shame if all games had no commitment. But low commitment sure helps us old fogies!
1. Long-term pause (basically what you are talking about)
2. Safety net (glad there's a save point right before this insane jumping puzzle!)
In my latest, I take #1 to an extreme, making a zero-commitment game. You can save anywhere, anytime, in the middle of swinging your axe, even in the middle of dying! It comes back exactly where it was. However, there is no #2. Saving quits the game. Luckily, you don't really need a safety net, since there is no penalty for dying other than to be zapped off to the last town you visited. It's kind of simulating an MMO, only one that stops when you're away.
However, just as a twist, that doesn't truly make it low-commitment. I don't think Aveyond is either. I've thought of starting it up sometimes and didn't because it's a big old RPG. Doesn't matter if I can save anywhere, it's still committing my brain to the story, to checking out my gear and seeing what needs upgrading, and so on.
Real low-commitment games are ones like Guitar Hero (although to me, no console game has a very low commitment - the start up time alone kills it! Especially on my dying PS2) or Unreal Tournament or Freecell... things where you can drop in and play from scratch. That is, you're not stepping into an existing complex scenario. You step into UT, you're walking into an existing match, but the only thing you need to know (if you even care) is who has the most points. Everything else is your own innate ability that you've been developing. Nothing to really remember (hmm, tricky thing - you do have to remember what the different weapons do and stuff, but that's a different type of knowledge than who needs the Gem Of Yendor. How to define that? Something about learning and repetition versus just being told a factoid).
If I haven't played an RPG in a while, I might as well delete it... even if it's got a journal system to track the quests and stuff. That helps, but going through and reading that... Still a big commitment.
And of course, let's not make a mistake: low commitment game isn't necessarily a better game than high commitment. It's a completely different experience. It can be great to pop in a round of UT, and it can be great to be immersed in huge strategy war too. It would be a shame if all games had no commitment. But low commitment sure helps us old fogies!
I guess this explains much of my interest in Aveyond...low commitment game.
I was able to save and go about my day. I didn't have to commit hours and hours to the game play to make it worth while.
I need to send you that write up on the game still.
I was able to save and go about my day. I didn't have to commit hours and hours to the game play to make it worth while.
I need to send you that write up on the game still.
I really hate games that don't allow for autosave or save anywhere. Why? because life just happens, and the game isn't the highest priority (all of the time). I rarely get time to play games much anymore, and when I do, I like games that I can get into and out of fast (low commitment games). Perhaps that's why I gravitate to arcade games more, as they are "quick in and out" games with low commitment. I also hate this not only as a game player, but also as a parent of game players. I can't even begin to count how many times I've conversations with my kids to the effect of:
Dad (Me): "Guys it's time for bed. I need you to shut of the game now."
Kids: "But we're not to a save point yet. We'll have to start all over if don't get to one."
Dad: "You can have 5 more minutes to try and get there, but that's it."
-- 5 minutes pass --
Dad: "Okay, time's up."
Kids: "But we're still not to a save station"
Dad: "I'm sorry, you'll just have to try again tomorrow. Now, please turn it off now and get to bed."
-- Whining and complaining follow from the kids as they relucantly go to bed --
Now thanks to poor game design, I become the "bad guy" because their progress is lost. All of that could have happened differently if a "save anywhere" feature was in the game.
Dad (Me): "Guys it's time for bed. I need you to shut of the game now."
Kids: "But we're not to a save point yet. We'll have to start all over if don't get to one."
Dad: "You can have 5 more minutes to try and get there, but that's it."
-- 5 minutes pass --
Dad: "Okay, time's up."
Kids: "But we're still not to a save station"
Dad: "I'm sorry, you'll just have to try again tomorrow. Now, please turn it off now and get to bed."
-- Whining and complaining follow from the kids as they relucantly go to bed --
Now thanks to poor game design, I become the "bad guy" because their progress is lost. All of that could have happened differently if a "save anywhere" feature was in the game.
I'm really cool with the idea of a game that you can totally sink your teeth into and lose an entire night playing. Civilization, Master of Orion, X-Com, Ultima 7, Ultima Underworld, and several others probably contributed to my getting LESS than a 4.0 average in college.
But just because you CAN end up committing a lot of time to playing the game doesn't mean the game should require it from the outset.
A potential case-in-point: City of Heroes. Probably the most "Casual" hardcore MMORPG that I have played. Just like all MMORPGs, you can spend HOURS on adventures in that game. However, they went out of their way to make it trivially easy to jump in (at least at lower level), find a couple other people to play with, pulp some bad guys, earn some XP and "influence" (and possibly a nice enhancement or two), and then log out again. With no more than a 15-minute commitment, you could jump into the game and make progress, and have a good time.
The trick is games with more long-range goals (like Civilization). It's easy to forget what was happening and where you were when you last left the game.
In television series with continuing story arcs, at the beginning of the episode you'll get a short "Previous on ..." synopsis of events critical to understanding the plot. It's helpful for new viewers tuning in, and it's helpful for regular viewers to remember what happened last week (or last SEASON - some shows, like Babylon 5 or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, set up events YEARS in advance)
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But just because you CAN end up committing a lot of time to playing the game doesn't mean the game should require it from the outset.
A potential case-in-point: City of Heroes. Probably the most "Casual" hardcore MMORPG that I have played. Just like all MMORPGs, you can spend HOURS on adventures in that game. However, they went out of their way to make it trivially easy to jump in (at least at lower level), find a couple other people to play with, pulp some bad guys, earn some XP and "influence" (and possibly a nice enhancement or two), and then log out again. With no more than a 15-minute commitment, you could jump into the game and make progress, and have a good time.
The trick is games with more long-range goals (like Civilization). It's easy to forget what was happening and where you were when you last left the game.
In television series with continuing story arcs, at the beginning of the episode you'll get a short "Previous on ..." synopsis of events critical to understanding the plot. It's helpful for new viewers tuning in, and it's helpful for regular viewers to remember what happened last week (or last SEASON - some shows, like Babylon 5 or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, set up events YEARS in advance)
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