Dev Take Tuesday – Warming Up to Achievements

I have to admit that for a long time I found achievement systems pointless. To me the true achievement was beating the game, and the thought of playing the game repeatedly for the equivalent of a self-congratulatory pat on the back seemed tiresome. But I’ve done what many people (regrettably) might consider impossible: I changed my view. After returning to two of my favorite games, Civilization 6 and Starcraft 2, I noticed how the achievement system helped me have fun. And I learned it wasn’t simply about unlocking an icon in my Steam or Blizzard account, either.

I tend to fall into comfort zones as a player—both with the selection of games I play as well as my style of play. Once I got serious about game design, I realized I’d need to stretch myself a little or risk missing out on everything gaming has to offer. Still, even with new games I know that I zero in on one gameplay style and stick with it until it fails. That’s where achievements come in. Setting achievements can convince players to interact with the game in a new way, baiting them out of their comfort zone.

Some of my completed Steam achievements for Civ 6

Civ 6 offers around 150 achievements. Most of them are simple: winning a game with each distinct civilization, trying different paths to victory, and even playing on bigger or smaller maps. Some are more complex. One of my favorite Civ games ever involved a conscious effort to complete the “Loire Valley” achievement. Based off of the historically significant and vineyard-soaked valley of central France with the same name, the achievement challenges you to build five special chateaux buildings, unique to the French civilization, in a city that produces wine. I remember feeling remarkable pride in that game—not necessarily because of the achievement itself, but because of how beautiful the city looked. It felt just like the type of culturally-significant city that tourists would want to visit.

Starcraft's campaign bakes its achievements into the game itself, rather than abstracting the achievements into a space outside the game. After each completed mission, you can see if you completed any or all of three achievements. (You can find out the achievements before the end of the mission, but it takes a little bit of extra work.) Some achievements are easy to accidentally complete, but most require you to approach the mission in a completely different way. Additionally, one of the three achievements must also be completed in hard mode which provides a subtle push to try the game at a higher difficulty level.

I certainly haven’t become obsessive about “100-percenting” achievements. I doubt I ever will. But I do love how different achievement systems have encouraged me to get out of my comfort zone and try parts of the game I would normally pass right by. I think carefully considered achievements help game designers to nudge players toward unique gameplay styles they’d otherwise disregard, and I’m excited to mull over achievement options for Alkanaur as we get closer to release.

Dev Take Tuesday - Cuphead's Clouds

I’m going to complain about Cuphead in the next couple paragraphs: a tiny complaint that, yes, is tied to the game’s oft-discussed difficulty. But first, let me gush about StudioMDHR’s popular indie hit. It’s impossible to talk about the game without bringing up its unique and captivating art style. The early twentieth-century cartoon look and jazzy instrumental tracks truly set the game apart. My dad never plays video games (apart from the occasional game of Mario Kart or Madden) but will sit down and watch my brother and me play just because of the game’s visuals. However, Cuphead isn’t simply about spectacle—the game utilizes tight controls and uniquely challenging boss fight after boss fight to create a great gameplay experience.

Cuphead is fun but extremely taxing. If I’m being honest, it’s my brother who keeps us afloat in the game’s two-player mode. In the vast majority of cases, this difficulty seems “earned” by the designers. You might die several times as you figure out a boss’s attack patterns, but once you learn the patterns you feel ready to vanquish your increasingly vexing foe. These boss attacks almost always have their own tell that clues players into which attack they must prepare for. One particularly elegant tell I noticed was during a convoluted carnival battle where a dangerous roller coaster could be seen distantly in the background before it arrived on the main screen.

Gif found in this Polygon article

Most of the time, my brother and I knew that our failures were our fault—we were clumsy with the controls or not focused enough to see the boss’s tells. But then we lost to the dragon. And lost again. And probably lost around forty times? I lost count. And with the dragon, the failures were much more frustrating. Unsurprisingly, Cuphead’s dragon flies, which means players need to jump from cloud to cloud throughout the battle. Unfortunately, these clouds briskly scroll across the screen in random formations. I’m sure the design decision here was intended to prevent stagnant play patterns, but I personally feel that the randomness of the attacks is enough. When an unlucky combination of attacks leaves you stranded without a cloud to jump too, fault is attributed to misfortune instead of personal mistakes.

Overall, Cuphead is an incredible experience that I highly recommend. As someone who gravitates more towards slow-paced strategy games, it’s rare that a twitchy game like Cuphead captures my long-term interest. A large percentage of that interest comes from the way the game thoughtfully handles difficulty, which makes the few missteps—like Cuphead’s clouds—really stick out. 

Indie Illuminator - Find Me

Find Me is a puzzle platformer that appears to take some inspiration from somber but soulful games like Limbo. The game’s narrative centers on a shadow trying to reunite with her human counterpart. Because of her shadowy nature, the player character must (of course) avoid light while navigating the game world, and, based off of interviews, the full game would feature more light-related game mechanics (such as reflections) as well.

Image found on the game's Kickstarter page

Another fascinating detail about Find Me? The game’s developers are a group of young girls in middle school and high school. They developed the game’s prototype during a summer camp program called Girls Make Games. An international program with support from well-known industry partners like Intel, Xbox, and Playstation, Girls Make Games attempts to bridge the gender gap in game development. Girls attend workshops and game jams, receiving support and encouragement to pursue any of the many possible careers in game development.

The girls hope to use their crowdfunding cash to get professional help with their art and music and for support to finish their game. Right now they’re awfully close to their Kickstarter goal, but they only have five days left to fund their project. If you’re interested in Find Me’s puzzle platformer mechanics or simply want to support a program like Girls Make Games, take a quick look at their Kickstarter page and their rewards for backers.

Indie Illuminator – Raji: An Ancient Epic

A unique theme can pull an entire game together when all game elements carefully work toward that theme. I think Bloodborne, Bastion, and Darkest Dungeon are all excellent examples of games that utilized an uncommon but cohesive theme to really stand out. While glancing through Kickstarter I found a current indie project titled Raji: An Ancient Epic, and I can see how the game’s chosen thematic background helps the game to stick out and the various game elements to stick together.

Concept art for Raji found on their Kickstarter page

Raji is an action adventure game inspired by Hindu and Indonesian mythology and set in medieval Rajasthan—India’s largest state. The architecture and art design in general looks amazing, and I believe a great amount of enjoyment from the game will simply come from exploring the environment. The game’s current trailer doesn’t show off too many enemy designs at the moment, but the acidic, frog-like Tezabsuras seem particularly unique and menacing. Although not listed as an RPG, it does seem like the game will feature some progression elements as you choose which gods to draw your power from.

Unlike many of the other Kickstarter projects I’ve illuminated on this blog, this relatively large indie dev team comes with a lot of experience from past jobs at AAA studios like E.A. and Rockstar Games. While they are currently short of their funding goal, they still have over a month to reach it. Take a look at their Kickstarter page if you think Raji: An Ancient Epic might be the type of game—and theme—you’re looking for!

Dev Take Tuesday – Stranger Things and MAXimizing Player Choice

Warning! I will be discussing some spoilers for the recently released second season of Stranger Things. If you didn’t binge watch the nine episodes like my wife and I did, you might want to postpone reading this blog post until you finish the whole season.

As mentioned in the warning above, we watched the entire new season of Stranger Things in more or less one sitting. Needless to say, my wife and I are fans. Despite how much we both loved the second season and its new characters, my wife raised a valid gripe about the addition of the skateboard-riding, arcade-record-breaking Max: what’s her role on the team? She has an obvious role in the season’s narrative, breaking up the group dynamics and creating competition between Dustin and Lucas. But it’s unclear until partway through the last episode—when she’s able to drive a car despite her age—how she can help the band of kids fight against the horrors of the Upside Down.

Lucas, Dustin, Mike, and Max in Stranger Things Season 2 (screencap from show found here)

Personally, my concerns were mollified during that car-driving scene. Max was the “zoomer,” as she describes it in an earlier episode. But I think it was a valid question all the way up to that point. When Max was added to the team of demigorgon-defeating kids, viewers expected her to contribute to the team once the supernatural baddies returned. This expectation reminded me of a similar gripe I’ve heard from gamers about leveling in RPGs. When a character gains enough experience to level up in an RPG, the player can often choose a new ability for that character. Usually there is a pool of available abilities to choose from, each offering tantalizing new opportunities for that character to become more powerful and useful.

Various ability choices in the RPG Kingdoms of Amalur (screencap found here)

However, it’s not always clear in the moment which abilities will be useful. Maybe one of the new skills offered to the player says that you get better at hacking robot enemies. Seems cool, right? But if it turns out that not many robot enemies exist in the game, the player might end up with an ability that never ends up fulfilling the expectations he or she had for it. And that’s (obviously) disappointing. Some gamers, worried that they’ll end up making one of these disappointing choices, eschew personal choice entirely for internet guides whenever their character levels up.

I understand the connection might be a bit tenuous here, but my point is that both TV show viewers and RPG gamers have expectations when a new element is introduced to the equation. If a show writer adds a new character to a group of kids known for battling monstrous baddies, viewers will expect the new character to be useful to the group in some way. Likewise, if a game designer provides a new ability for a character, gamers will expect that ability to be useful—just like the other abilities the character already has. Offering a sub-par choice might open up roleplaying decisions for specific types of players, but if the drawbacks of that choice aren’t clear, many players will end up disappointed. Offering carefully balanced abilities every time a player levels up is a tricky task, but a worthwhile one for maximizing player choice and contentment.

Indie Illuminator - Summoners Fate

Usually, I have at least a couple projects I’d like to illuminate on any given Thursday. But today was unusual—I struggled to find any games or streamers to cover. So I hopped on Kickstarter’s games section and started to scroll. I was immediately intrigued by a video game called Summoners Fate that combines tactical combat and CCG (collectible card game) mechanics. To my surprise, I noticed the game’s developers also live in Salt Lake. Guess I picked the right Kickstarter to cover!

Gif found on the Summoners Fate Kickstarter page

Summoners Fate’s unique top-down perspective makes the game feel even more like the physical board and card games it emulates. Like our game Alkanaur, Summoners Fate incorporates both a strategic layer and a tactical layer in its gameplay. In the strategic layer players choose dungeons and manage resources, whereas the tactical layer focuses on snappy turn-based combat. One nice touch I appreciated as a game designer was the simple choice to make the game characters look up when it is their turn to move and attack. Additionally, the gameplay seems to be designed to allow for quick bursts of gameplay (useful for mobile) or in longer sessions.

The game’s developers, D20 Studios, plan to release Summoners Fate in 2018 on iOS, Android, PC and Mac. If you’re interested in the game, they are currently running a small Kickstarter project that is nearly 100% funded as I write this post. You can also catch a Q&A stream with the husband and wife development team tomorrow (November 3^rd) on Kickstarter if you want to know more about the game or the developers.