morgan's play journal

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Game Aesthetics: Journey

By: Morgan Filyaw

Many game scholars and practitioners focus on rules and mechanics when defining games and consider certain aspects of the gaming experience, such as game aesthetics, to be peripheral (Niedenthal 2). This attitude towards game aesthetics, however, limits game scholars and designers from analyzing these important aspects of games and fully exploiting the medium of digital interaction, respectively. In the case of Journey, its visual and aural aesthetics give rise to a particular emotional experience that was, according to the game’s composer, Austin Wintory, emphasized by its developers as integral to the game (2019). The aesthetics of Journey are vital to the game’s success; an evaluation of the game according to the many approaches that disregard aesthetics would do it an injustice.

Visual

In his paper “What We Talk About When We Talk About Game Aesthetics,” Simon Niedenthal discusses the relationship of game aesthetics to game mechanics as a way to foster an understanding of the place of aesthetics in game play and design (5). In order to describe this relation, he analogizes game mechanics to verbs and game aesthetics to nouns and adjectives; mechanics dictate the player’s possible actions, whereas aesthetics dictate, in part, how the player will experience these actions (Niedenthal 5). As previously mentioned, the emotional experience of Journey was of particular importance to its developers (Wintory 2019), which is obvious through the relationship between the game’s aesthetics and mechanics. For example, the way in which the character’s clothing flows elegantly upon running, jumping, flying, etc. creates a sense of serenity and whimsy that matches the overall atmosphere of the game.

[Footage from my gameplay showing how the character moves and how the fabric of its cloak flows]

In this way, the visual aesthetics of the game (the way the character moves) help it achieve a particular tone and thus influence the player’s experience.

Aural

Also essential to the success of Journey are its aural aesthetics. It utilizes predominantly diegetic sound effects—most of which are interactive, although there are also adaptive sound effects—as well as linear, nondynamic, nondiegetic music and adaptive nondiegetic music (Collins 126). One particularly strinking use of sound comes in the last section of the game, where the character treks through stinging winds and snow until it simply cannot go anymore.

[Footage from my gameplay showing the last moments of the trek up the mountain, the character’s death, and then resurrection, and how the music and sound effects change in these moments]

Here, the character moves up the mountain, walking slower and slower until eventually collapsing. As this happens, the music quiets, and the sound of the character’s footsteps becomes more apparent; this focuses the player’s attention on the sound and instills a sense of hopelessness as the character reaches its death. Afterward, when the large white figures appear, the music returns, reaching a crescendo as the character is resurrected and flies up to the top of the mountain. This replaces the player’s hopelessness with a feeling of triumph as they play through the game’s final moments.

In closing, much of Journey’s success can be credited to its brilliant use of visual and aural aesthetics that provide the player with an unforgettable emotional experience.

Works Cited

Collins, Karen. Gameplay, Genre, and the Functions of Game Audio. Game Sound. 

Journey. Thatgamecompany, 2012. Playstation 4 Version.

Niedenthal, Simon. "What We Talk About When We Talk About Game Aesthetics."     Malmö U. 

Wintory, Austin. Lecture. 12 Feb. 2019. 

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Game Mechanics: Limbo

By: Morgan Filyaw

As defined by Miguel Sicart in his article “Defining Game Mechanics,” game mechanics are “methods invoked by agents, designed for interaction with the game state.” Every game possesses its own set of mechanics, some far more complex than others. The puzzle-platform game Limbo features a relatively simple—and to an experienced gamer, intuitive—set of mechanics that allow the player a sense of comfort and familiarity while engaging with its unsettling environment. The nature of these mechanics provides a needed contrast to the game’s challenging puzzles, helping to keep the player engaged and amused rather than overly frustrated. I will discuss the mechanics of Limbo and how they contribute to the game’s success in terms of two categories provided by Sicart: “core mechanics” and “context mechanics,” (”Defining Game Mechanics”).

Core Mechanics

Sicart describes core mechanics as “the game mechanics (repeatedly) used by agents to achieve a systemically rewarded end-game state,” (”Defining Game Mechanics”). Limbo’s set of core mechanics is small: the character can move (left or right) and jump. That’s it! This is typical of platform games; anyone who has played a platform game in the past would recognize these mechanics immediately, and anyone who hasn’t would have little trouble figuring them out. 

[Footage from my gameplay showing the game’s core mechanics (moving and jumping)]

The simplicity of these mechanics serves the game well. Rather than attempting to subvert player expectations through unique game mechanics, Limbo provides familiar ones that enable the player to quickly acclimate to the game world and focus their attention on some of the game’s more intriguing elements, such as its visual style and increasingly dastardly puzzles.

Context Mechanics

Another type of mechanics that Sicart discusses are context mechanics: “mechanics that are triggered depending on the context of the player presence in the game world,” (”Defining Game Mechanics”). In addition to its limited set of core mechanics, Limbo features a few context mechanics. When the character is near particular objects such as a bear trap or a box, the character can grab these objects and push or pull them to the left or right. The presence of a ladder allows the character to climb. A rope shares this function, but also enables the character to swing back and forth. Lastly, when holding onto a ledge, pressing the jump key causes the character to pull himself up.

[A few clips from my gameplay showing these context mechanics (moving objects, climbing a ladder, swinging on a rope, pulling up onto a ledge)]

While these context mechanics slightly expand on what actions are possible for a player to take, they remain fairly simple, cohering with the nature of the game’s core mechanics.

Overall, Limbo’s use of simple core and context mechanics helps balance its difficult puzzles and allows the player to immerse themselves in the game world rather than grow frustrated over failed attempts at controlling the character. Additionally, the player is given more opportunity to focus their attention on the game’s most compelling features, such as its eerie yet beautiful visual style.

Works Cited

Limbo. Playdead, 2010. OS X Version.

Sicart, Miguel. "Defining Game Mechanics." Game Studies, gamestudies.org/0802/     articles/sicart. 

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Work/Play: Papers, Please

By: Morgan Filyaw

Johan Huizinga’s “Nature and Significance of Play as a Cultural Phenomenon” describes play as existing outside of “ordinary life”—as stepping out of “real” life into a temporary world of activity that contains its own rules, course, and meaning (103). Additionally, Huizinga states that play is an activity connected with no material interest and that it proceeds within its own boundaries of time and space (107). The game Papers, Please possesses all these elements of play, but for the purpose of this post I will focus on its existence in a temporary world separate from reality, the nature of the game’s world as a replication of a work day, and why someone would wish to play a game of this nature.

Arstotzka

Papers, Please takes place in the fictional dystopian Eastern Bloc-like country of Arstotzka. In the world of the game, the player becomes an immigration officer and must review each person crossing the border, checking their passports and other necessary paperwork. This world, per Huizinga’s description, has its own rules: all those passing through must have the proper paperwork and this paperwork must be legitimate (without falsified information). 

(Above) A map of Arstotzka and it’s neighboring countries (the game world)

(Below) The list of rules given to a player

Each day, the player must complete the same task with various people, allowing or denying passage as they choose. While this game does exist outside of ordinary life, its goal is to replicate the monotony of a work day, so in many ways, the game world and its rules are close to reality.

But What Is Fun?

So, why would someone want to play a game of this nature? Throughout his essay, Huizinga emphasizes that no single why or wherefore of play is sufficient, but spends time discussing an important element of it: fun (98). Many people’s first answer to the question (and probably my own as well) of why we play a particular game would be “because it is fun.” But how do we make sense of the fun of playing a game that mimics a work day? Despite Huizinga’s belief that fun resists all analysis (98), I will apply my own thoughts as to why this game  (as well as others) is fun/interesting. To me, this game presents an opportunity for a player to become someone else, to interact with a situation that they may never experience in real life in a safe environment where they create the stakes (a player can choose to play a game for competition or casually). Assuming this play is not for bet or competition, stakes are low and consequences are few, so why not experience something unique from one’s ordinary life? For me, this is one of the primary reasons that I enjoyed this game; I was able to experience something new.

Works Cited

Huizinga, Johan. "Nature and Significance of Play as a Cultural Phenomenon."     Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture, pp. 97-119. 

Pope, Lucas. Papers, Please. 3909, 2013. OS X version.

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Classic Arcade Games: Ms. Pac-Man

By: Morgan Filyaw

This week I visited Pinballz arcade where I had the chance to play the 1982 classic arcade game Ms. Pac-Man.

Me at Pinballz                                               Me playing Ms. Pac-Man

The classic arcade game, as defined by Richard Rouse III in “Game Analysis: Centipede”, has the following traits: single screen play; infinite play; multiple lives; scoring/high scores; simple, easy-to-learn gameplay; and no story (462-465). Ms. Pac-Man, being one of the most iconic games of the classic arcade game form, follows all these aspects. On the surface, the game’s premise is straightforward; a novice player would quickly learn that points are earned from eating pellets and fruits; contact with ghosts leads to a lost life; and eating a “power pellet” temporarily turns the ghosts blue, allowing them to be eaten for extra points. Considering only these elements, the game may seem elementary, but the complexity of the ghosts as well as how the game changes as the player progresses make it challenging and contributed to its success.

The Enemy

One of the most complex elements and greatest strengths of Ms. Pac-Man is the game’s enemies: the four ghosts. At first, the ghosts’ movements may appear random to the player, but after a few tries—and many deaths at the hands of the red ghost, Blinky, or the pink ghost, Pinky—the player may realize that the ghosts’ movements aren’t all random. In fact, each ghost has its own personality, and some are better at catching the player than others. For instance, Blinky has a chaser personality, whereas Pinky likes to ambush Ms. Pac-Man.

[A few short clips from my gameplay showing the chaser personality of Blinky and the ambush personality of Pinky]

The distinct personalities of the four ghosts give the game more replayability, which Rouse states was very important for arcade games in order to be profitable (461). They keep the game from becoming boring while also giving players learnable behaviors.

Faster! Faster!

Another aspect of Ms. Pac-Man that contributed to its success is that it, like other classic arcade games, continuously gets harder and harder for the player as they progress. In the first level of the game, the ghosts begin at a certain speed; this speed increases when the player progresses to level 2, and so on. This increase in speed makes it harder for the player to anticipate the ghosts’ movements and thus makes it easier for the ghosts to catch Ms. Pac-Man. Another way in which the game increases difficulty is by decreasing the duration that the ghosts are blue after a power pellet is eaten.

[Two clips from my gameplay showing the duration that the ghosts are blue after a power pellet is eaten in level 1 vs level 4]

When comparing level one and level four, the duration decreases from 7.5 seconds to 6 seconds, giving the player less time to eat the ghosts as well as less time to play without the threat of the ghosts.

Overall, the complexity of Ms. Pac-Man’s enemies as well as the ways in which the game increases in difficulty made for a fun and engaging play experience that I very much enjoyed. 

Works Cited

Ms. Pac-Man. Arcade Version, Midway, 1982.

"Ms. Pac-Man (Flash Game)." Arcade Division, 2019, www.arcadedivision.com/

    classicgame2/classics/ms-pacman.html

Rouse III, Richard. "Game Analysis: Centipede." Game Design: Theory and

    Practice, pp. 460-73.