Lecture

Particularly within the games industry, I find the classification and emergence of genre fascinating. Unlike other mediums where genres appear to be set in stone, games are constantly evolving and new genres emerge seemingly everyday, as evidenced by hybrids such as Metroidvania, Soulslikes, and roguelikes.

The actual process of game genre emergence was interesting to consider. Regardless of if a game is innovative, fills a market gap and is successful, it alone cannot establish a genre. It is through the subsequent ‘clones’ and iterations on the established formula that a genre arises. It is at this point that the founding game is able to achieve the title of ‘mythic originator’. This can be seen in how Wolfenstein 3D (1992) was the first FPS, while games like Doom (1993) iterated on it and actually established the genre.

I was unaware of how useful the definition of a game’s genre is for marketing and sales forecasting. They help developers and publishers understand their target audiences and create formulas that will innovate while still hopefully ensuring success. They also help audiences to make informed purchases of games, based on play preferences. Because of this, thoughtful use of store tags can be a great asset to developers selling their games on digital storefronts, to ensure that your game gets in front of the right customers.

GDD work

This week I have been focusing on a variety of elements of the GDD, making sure it is fleshed out and well conveyed to readers. In particular, I have added a new chapter which breaks down each mechanic at the players disposal. As the traversal system is intended to be deeply engaging and versatile, I wanted to take some time in the document to detail how it works. I listed each ‘verb’ that the player can enact (cruising, drifting, grinding, etc.) and went on to detail how, and when they would be used, as well as any related mechanics that can be used in conjunction. Initially, I was apprehensive about going in to so much granular detail, but with what we learnt in week two of this module in mind, it is highly beneficial to the whole team if you are as clear and communicative in your design document as possible. In a professional context, this would hopefully prevent any confusion for team members and make sure that everyone is on the same page regarding the game’s design.

Individual challenge

Appropriate to the theme of unfamiliar genres, our individual challenge this week tasked us with writing about one of our least favourite genres. We were to describe what we did not like about the genre, and suggest any improvements to the formula that might cater more to our preferences.

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Hunting games are a difficult genre for me. As an animal lover, I feel morally objected to the realistic simulation of shooting them as a primary gameplay mechanic. However, I do enjoy the feeling that they aim to give – being out in the wilderness on your own using nothing but the equipment you brought and environmental clues to guide you.

For me, the prefect ‘hunting’ game would retain the core pillars and experiences of traditional style titles, but in a different context. Perhaps on an alien planet, having to track and capture hostile aliens. Or maybe being in a distant future wasteland, tracking and shutting down rogue AI through precarious environments. 

However it is not just aesthetic qualities that I would change to better tune these games to my taste; I would also look to adding more chances for emergent gameplay and stories. Some ideas I have for this include:

• You are predator and prey. While you are out hunting your target, there is something also tracking you. This would add an element of survival horror and alleviate potential boredom from long tracking sessions. Be careful to cover your tracks and fight back if the need emerges.
• Environmental hazards. Rockfalls, unstable ground, lighting storms etc. These would add a layer of unpredictability to the game space with it being shaped by random events.
• Looting and foraging. Use objects picked up and foraged in the environment to craft new tools and lures. This would add some nice micro-goals as well as risk vs. reward – do you enter a dangerous area to forage for powerful bait at the risk of being attacked by a predator?
• Story elements. A campaign mode in which each hunting space and target fits into an overarching storyline.

There are lots of ways that I would personally tweak and improve hunting games to match my preferences. However, I am aware that many of my additions stray away from the simulator aspects that make the game genre so appealing to audiences in the first place. Perhaps these additions could help to fill a gap in the market for people who like the gameplay structure of a hunting game, without the simulated moral implications.

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This task helped me to consider what it is about particular genres that I dislike. It made me spend time asking which mechanics were inherent to a genre and which weren’t. Which mechanics could be removed or altered and still retain the genre’s identity and which would completely change the genre in their absence?

Iron designer challenge

Our weekly team challenge tasked us with making a popular game with no card elements into a collectable card game. Our team got assigned the seemingly insurmountable task of doing so with Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy (2017). Ironically this process seemed more difficult than the game itself, but we gave it a good attempt.

We started by outlining what the core pillars of the game are, so that we could best distill it into a card game, while still retaining its core essence. We unanimously decided that frustration was the core tenet that we had to retain. This meant that statistically, dice rolls would never be skewed in your favour, and getting over the proverbial mountain would be an unlikely outcome.

Each time that a player attempts progress, they roll a die to determine their success. Focus points can be spent to play action cards, which attempt to level the odds more in your favour, for instance adding to your roll.

The mountain itself is where we incorporated the collectable elements of the game. Players would be building the mountain as they go, placing cards to form its structure. These would have different themes to encourage collection as players may be driven to collect a whole set. Themes ranged from medieval to space.

What started as a big headache eventually became a fun exercise in distillation and translation. Our whole team got involved with the process, coming up with inventive ways to break the game down into its core systems and apply that to a card game context. I think that the finished concept – while not perfect – is a solid attempt at this.

Further reading

As he was once again referenced in this week’s lecture, I decided to watch GMTK’s video on genre emergence and classification (2017). It was very insightful and I found much overlap with the ideas found in Nick’s lecture. I particularly resonated with the posited question of whether genre helps or hinders game innovation. It is plausible that the existence of genre conventions limits games from truly innovating and breaking new ground as often as they could. Because of this, I think it is crucial to see genre features as starting points to ideating, rather than rigid absolutes.

Following on from the iron designer challenge, I was still thinking about the process of translating games into different genres. I did some research on industry examples of this and came across a fascinating GDC talk about from Antoine Routon (2016). In it, he described their design process behind Lara Croft GO (2015), detailing how they retained the core feeling of the Tomb Raider franchise in a mobile strategy game. Similarly to our group task, their team started with distillation, eventually landing on what they called “the essence of adventure” (Routon 2016), which then went on to inform every design decision throughout development.

References

Doom. 1993. id Software.

Game Makers Toolkit. 2017. Do We Need a Soulslike Genre? [YouTube essay]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx7BWayWu08 [accessed 18 November 2021].

Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy. 2017. Bennett Foddy.

Lara Croft GO. 2015. Square Enix Montreal, Square Enix.

ROUTON, Antoine. 2016. Distilling A Franchise: The Lara Croft GO Postmortem [GDC talk]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn4MzuvliDs [accessed 19 November 2021].

Wolfenstein 3D. 1992. id Software, Apogee Software.