April Analysis: Night in the Woods

          A friend told me about this one. It’s rather unique in terms of aesthetics and gameplay. Night in the Woods can be best described as a platformer with narrative elements and various mini-games. The game doesn’t fit in as well as other games in the platformer genre as it has a specific feel about it. The way the narrative pans out makes it seem like a “slice of life” type of experience. I’ve never seen a game do something like this. Night in the Woods is definitely interesting to look at and play despite the gameplay not being incredibly fun or exciting. So why make a game that isn’t meant to be fun?

          Many games in the past have opted to make their design less focused on gameplay and more on narrative. The mechanics merely supplement the story in those kinds of games. Night in the Woods has a big focus on narrative, especially in character arcs. The player controls a cat named Mae. She’s coming home from college to live with her parents. Mae spends the rest of her time reconnecting with past friends, learning about the changes in her town, and occasionally doing some bad things. Over time she learns of her friends’ issues and gradually opens up about her own. At the same time, something ominous is happening in her town and it’s up to her and her allies to find out what. The game starts on the evening of Mae’s return to town in a bus station.

The first area is meant to show the player that they can interact with the environment if certain icons are displayed (such as an eye or an arm and paw) and they can move on a 2D plane as well as jump. There’s some dialogue between her and the janitor fixing the door. He says he will finish by the time Mae gets him a soda from the vending machine. This introduces puzzle elements into the game, albeit with a simple solution. Players are now aware of controls and how the game will play out mechanically, but not narratively.

          Overall mechanics are simple: characters can move left or right, jumping is possible, interaction is done via hitting the Action button and works whenever an icon is present over Mae, and all of these are used to do puzzles here and there. Jumping is the most useful ability as it lets you get to higher places. The most notable feature of jumping is the High Jump. To do this, you must jump consecutively three times whilst moving. Think of it as running, jumping once, a second time, and on the third leap you reach twice the height of a normal jump. Knowing this is essential to reaching the tallest buildings in the town where certain NPCs can be found and spoken to.

          The most engaging part of the game is character dialogue. Reading what everyone has to say makes the world more interesting as it fills you in on what kind of lives the people are living. There’s one person you can speak to who returns your warm greeting with sad news: he just lost his job. You can cheer him up with one of two dialogue options, though they have little effect on how the game plays out. Later you see the same person working in a hardware store.

          There’s no voice acting in the game other than a few sounds from characters jumping or doing other actions that might elicit some noise. It may be odd to bring up, but I have to mention it because it’s intentional. The game is meant to have a quiet and calm feel to it. Voices would likely cause some unnecessary noise. Reading dialogue is akin to reading a book where the voices play out in your head. This tone really sets the mood for a relaxing play session. It also makes the scary moments exceptionally frightening as they feel more loud. 

Sound and music plays a big effect on mood in this game. In the dreams that Mae has, the music feels like it’s deep in the background. When Mae finds the towers with the people playing instruments, they add in their own music to make the dream seem more active. When all four are found, you have a symphony of sound going through the dream. It all comes to a halt when Mae reaches the start of her dream again and sees some unspeakable horror mysteriously appear. The music changes to something disruptive and shocking. What was once a pleasant dream has now become a night terror. 

Religion is prominent in this game. What is the meaning of life? Sometimes that question is only answered through religious teachings. With faith, one can find simple answers for complicated questions. In other cases, a more complex explanation based on tangible evidence is more believable. The game takes a neutral stance on existentialism. There could be a God or maybe there isn’t. It never says for sure. Just like with the Black Goat the cult sacrifices people to. The good things happening to the town being may be pure coincidence or there really is a demon down in the mines that grants fortune when fed, giving the town it’s prosperity. The dreams Mae has could either be the Black Goat communicating with her or just normal dreams that try to tell her things. Again, the game is intentionally ambiguous with these questions.

Night in the Woods teaches valuable lessons about life in general. It does so through character interaction and dialogue. For example, we find out that Bea’s mother is dead and as a result, her father goes into a depression and starts drinking heavily. To support both herself and her dad, Bea takes over the hardware store and gives up her dream of going to college. It’s a lesson in making sacrifices for those you care about. She still hates her situation, but she deals with it. Later, you meet a crazy old possum lady who asks you to fix her furnace. She locks you in the basement when Mae and Bea come to fix her furnace. Fortunately, you can escape by beating up the furnace and she lets you out. This shows the kind of people you may encounter in daily life, some being pretty normal and others being psychotic. You must learn to deal with them appropriately. The game’s ultimate lesson is this: You’re problems pale in comparison to the rest of the world. You will encounter experiences good and bad and they’ll shape your life forever. It isn’t the end if something goes wrong; you’ll be fine.

This is a game worth looking at for studying character storylines and a little bit of worldbuilding. It’s also useful in knowing how to incorporate a message via an artform. That’s what I’d like to see more games do: communicate a message with their medium that’s more than just entertaining, but thought provoking. These “slice of life” style of games are likely going to increase in popularity. Games where there’s no apparent end goal, but the experience is enjoyable and soothing to the player. At the same time, life lessons are taught via gameplay and character interaction. I expect to see more games like this in the future.

Open World Done Right

Breath of the Wild launched recently. I haven’t had a chance to try it out, but it looks amazing in terms of aesthetics and gameplay. Judging by video footage, it seems to have nailed the formula for open world exploration. There’s many things to explore and players have incentive to discover. It’s been quite some time since I’ve seen a game do open world gameplay so well. How did they do it? 

Start with a premise of some kind. Regardless of setting, some antagonistic force threatens the peace of the realm or something like that. Warlock, the Malevolent, as we will call it, is infesting the lands with his armies. This gives the world conflict for the player to deal with. Now that we have a premise, the player knows what their ultimate goal is: get rid of Warlock. If the goal is as simple as that, why not storm his castle and kill him now? That would be ill advised for a new player.

Let players have access to the end of the game. It lets them get a feel for what to expect from their enemy. They may go boldly charging the darkened castle when a guardian looks down at the player and stomps them into the ground. Clearly, the player is not ready to fight the antagonist. They must grow stronger and master the mechanics and systems before they can face the end boss, a final test of their understanding of the game itself.

Begrudgingly, the player will run around looking for easier challenges. Some of Warlock’s minor forces are seen in the open field. Players can take them out with no trouble and learn a few basic mechanics. Later they may find a town being attacked by stronger enemies. The townspeople could use a hero to help them. The player lends a hand, saves the town, and earns a nice reward in the form of an equipment upgrade. They learn about exploration, quests, and reward systems. Now they have a method of getting stronger. Still, it’s best if they don’t fight Warlock right now. They’ve got a long ways to go and much to learn about the world. Players now have a reason to look for other places that need their help.

As they explore, players run into NPCs who need help or side quests that involve a small narrative. These narratives can either affect the game or just the game world. If it affects the game, this means that completing this quest rewards something that makes the player stronger or weakens the enemy somehow. Maybe minions of Warlock the Malevolent won’t kick the player’s ass so hard this time. If it affects the game world, this means the lore changes in some way. The player learns something about the world and grows to care for it more deeply. This is good for character development and agency. Both of these outcomes can occur at the same time. Player learns of Warlock’s latest scheme to corrupt the water source for a large city causing a plague. Upon cleansing the plague, the player is given a new weapon. Now the player has a reason to hate the villain more, but also grows more powerful in the process.

What happens in the world when the player isn’t around? It goes on without them. Whenever the player is off looking for new places to discover and puzzles to solve, the world should be able to operate independently of the player’s actions. It should still be affected by what the player does, but it shouldn’t need the player to feel bad about not saving anyone. Imagine if every town was under attack by the forces of evil. Some might can hold their ground, but others would be destroyed. It makes sense to have most towns handle the fighting themselves so the player can wander off without being too concerned about the side quest involved with saving the inhabitants. If they do decide to save the town, keep it saved. It will be a sign of progress in the world and it’s satisfying to look on a map and see how much good you’ve done in the world.

At the end of their journey, players will be ready to take on the ultimate challenge: their original goal of defeating Warlock, the Malevolent. With their knowledge of the game, the lore of the world, and their godly armor and powerful weapons, the player will be ready. It isn’t necessary to have them explore everything in the game world, especially if it’s massive. Have them explore a few critical spots that are not too difficult to find and have them teach essential mechanics that they will need for the final battle. The guardian from before stands no chance against the master player. A last mechanic may be introduced at this time, but it should be brief and interesting; nothing too complex. This serves as a reward for making it this far and should be the most amazing thing your game offers. Now the player will feel like the end boss will be powerless against them. 

So the player has reached the end boss, fought him to the death, and saved the world. Now what? At this point, you can either let them explore everything else they may have missed or give them access to new content. Even though the antagonist is dead, players still may want to explore the rest of the game. It is very possible they didn’t find everything the world has to offer. In the off chance that they have finished all of the content, new areas and quests can be added as a reward for defeating the end boss. It’s always good to give the player more of what they enjoy the most. If the player sees the slaying of the antagonist as the final challenge, they shouldn’t have to feel like they HAVE to explore the endgame content. It should feel like a reward for saving the world that can be indulged in at any time and not an obligation. No one likes being forced to play something they don’t like.

This concludes the formula used to create a satisfying open world exploration game. Of course, this doesn’t cover absolutely everything designers may encounter in creating a game like this, but it does hit on some of the most important points.

Determination: Our Most Powerful Trait

          Pursuing challenges and goals despite adversity. Trying again and again regardless of failures. Pushing forward even when the journey has been rough. To persevere is an admirable ability. Sometimes called tenacity, determination is the most prominent trait in gamers as they’re used to performing the same actions over and over again in order to win. It’s alright if you run into an obstacle that seems insurmountable; we all have our limits to what we can do. But giving up at the first sign of a challenge is not good. I’ve done it myself on many occasions, most often with personal projects. The reasoning is always about motivation or the work being too hard or even the payoff isn’t big enough in the end. That may be the potential downside of growing up with games: you expect near instant gratification with everything. Some things just take time and you won’t know if it’s truly worth the effort until you finish it.

          Failure hurts about as bad as rejection. The anticipation and fear of losing really drives you away from attempting anything remotely difficult. However, taking the easy route is even worse in the long run. Doing easy and relaxing tasks isn’t bad unto itself, but only focusing on what’s familiar and comfortable can lead you to remain stagnant. You can’t get better at anything if you don’t try something new and unfamiliar. For gamers, maybe it’s certain genres of games that you don’t like. It could be from a past bad experience or general disinterest. To an artist, maybe certain subjects are difficult to draw. The first time you draw a tree it seems daunting thinking about drawing all of those leaves and the textures of the bark, but the task becomes easier once you try it at least once. After that, every subsequent attempt is less challenging due to the new experience gained from messing up before. You drew that tree in three hours. This time, you can do it in two. Perhaps your next attempt will take less than sixty minutes.

          The hardest part about trying any challenge is getting started. You could have some warm up ritual to prepare yourself for the task, but that’s procrastination. All I can say is get started right now. The moment you think of something you want to do, try and do it. The longer you take to start something, the harder it is to begin at all. If something prevents you from being able to do this task, what can you do about it? Are there workarounds to the problem? Can you at least study the nature of the task to understand it more? Is it an external force or internal?

With further exploration of the task or ability you want to do, you’ll find out whether you really want to do it in the first place. Voice acting may sound like a brilliant idea… until you try it. If reading aloud is scary, voice acting will be virtually impossible for you. If you start reading out loud to yourself, that’s a good first step. Sticking to doing just that doesn’t make you a voice actor, though. You will need to read out loud to bigger audiences. Take small steps if you must, but don’t quit right away. You must put in enough effort to earn a chance to rest.

          It’s easy to say all of this, yet harder to practice it. Usually what drives one to be determined is a goal. There’s a puzzle to be solved and the longer it remains unsolved, the longer you go without making progress. Once the puzzle is complete, you move on to the next. What if there’s more on the line? What if the agency is significant? You’ll find the strength to finish that task. If the reasoning for the task is closer to “I just thought it would look cool,” there’s a good chance you won’t carry it all the way through. Take the artist who creates very few, but marvelous, works: they have a great idea they want to try. During the process of creation, they discover their idea didn’t turn out as good as they wanted it to. If the idea still seems worth carrying on, they’ll try again. Otherwise, it’s another discontinued project. 

          You will face failure. You will face rejection. You will face obstacles and problems you can never plan for. At times, the world will seem to be against you and life would be so much easier if all you had to do was what someone else told you to. It’s easy to be complacent and not try. But you can be better than that. You can put forth effort. You can shrug off failures and call it progress and experience. You can adapt your plans to unforeseen problems. 

You too can be determined.