Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 2.8
Two ways to add a door to
Tombed II
, built by introducing extra objects and an equivalent
using existing objects.
Digital games, even if we watch their rules play out on a TV screen, have a physical layer. Jane
may be digging through blocks of clay, but what the player is doing is tapping the Shift key. The
verbs the player is using to interact with the other rules of the game—to make Jane do stuff—
are connected to physical actions the player is taking, though they're small ones.
Our goal as creators is to communicate the rules of the game as clearly and succinctly as pos-
sible, yes? This is why it's important to make the connection between the verb the player is act-
ing upon and the physical action the player is taking to do it as close as possible. I don't mean
that digging in
To mb ed
should be physically grueling for the player, because that's a game of
quick thinking, not endurance.
Grueling controls might suit a different game. Take the original arcade version of
Track & Field
(1983). Running in that game involves alternately mashing two different buttons. This helps
characterize the action of running because you can imagine two feet stepping in sequence:
right leg, left leg, right, left. It's also physically arduous, which increases the player's connection
to the athlete on the screen and the actions he's taking. In a game where running is less impor-
tant, it's safe for the mechanics of running to be abstracted. You can walk from one side of the
room to the other without having
to focus on the motion of your legs. But for a game about
competitive distance running, this connection is important.
Of course, if you've played many videogames, you know that we don't need to make a verb's
physical performance resemble the verb. There's not much about pressing a button that
resembles jumping, and that's part of the interesting quality of videogames—we can explore
the distance between the physical act of using the interface and what it represents inside the
game. Sometimes we can close the distance. There are platforms that can sense a broader
