Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
develop the other aesthetic pleasures of narrative potential, co-presence, and trans-
formation in pursuit of presence. But now let's go through all this in more detail.
SURETIES
Sureties provide certain kinds of basic perceptions that support the context in which
the main gameplay exists. They are mundane details that are somehow highly
predictable—their value is their predictability. They should appear to arise quite
naturally and are concerned with the logic of the environment unconsciously
accepted. Sureties deliver denotative meaning and thus help players to accept the
fundamental nature of the world or level.
Recent research shows that much of what we know about the world we know
unconsciously and that it is this knowledge that allows us to function from second
to second almost independently of our conscious experience of the world (Black-
more, 1999; Damasio, 2000). For instance, most people learn how to catch a ball
that someone throws toward them. Most people don't learn the calculus required to
be able to consciously calculate the parabola which the ball will describe in the air
as it fl ies toward the catcher. Even if you are one of the people who could make that
calculation, by the time you had done it the ball would have long bounced off your
nose and fallen to the ground. Catching a ball relies on unconscious knowledge that
you can make use of but cannot explain. Much of what we know about the world
we cannot explain but we use it all the time in our everyday lives. Sureties seek to
supply experiences that will keep the unconscious mind happy.
Sureties should inform the game player of such things as; how big am I? How
fast am I moving? What do I look like? and Have I been here before? Sureties also
provide other reassuring information to do with such things as the physics of the
world and the believability of other beings in terms of their avatars and behaviors.
Furthermore, we are used to the real world being complex and cluttered so it helps
if the virtual world of the game is as well. We call this redundant complexity per-
ceptual noise. A useful aphorism is that in interacting with the real world we are
trying to make sense of too much information whereas in games we are trying to
make sense of too little.
In SinCity, such things as sidewalks, fi re escapes, alleyways and doorways, and
roofs and parapets all reassure us. They tell us where we are, what sort of place we
are in, how big we are, how fast we are moving, how high we are, how far away
things are, and so on. The neon sign on top of the half-fi nished building doesn't
contribute to gameplay but certainly helps establish height and the believable ordi-
nariness of the street scene. The general complexity of the buildings both fi nished
and unfi nished, the levels provided by roofs and parapets, the wire fences, ladders,
doorways, and so on all contribute to perceptual noise and give our unconscious
plenty to do.
Sureties succeed by not being noticed when they are there but are missed if they
aren't. They are thus the basis on which the game designer seeks to achieve the
willing suspension of disbelief in the mind of the player. If sureties are the basis of
this then surprises are what really deliver the goods.
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