Video Game Design: Run or Shoot?

Whatever you choose, remember to scream!

   

When designing a Game one of the most common priorities is making sure everything, from visuals to Gameplay mechanics, is as smooth and polished as possible, this is done to make sure they are not an obstacle to the player and his/her Gaming experience.
 
At first it seems like a logical thought, if the player has to struggle with things like the HUD (Heads up display), the Inventory system or character movement, then he will spend less time playing and more time fighting against those elements, but the problem is that most people tend to quickly discard things that feel "Wrong" or "Clunky" without considering all aspects to that element.

  

As we've discussed previously in other articles (Here, and Here), all elements inside the Game have a direct impact on that Game's universe, it's feel, flow and identity, and as such all aspects and qualities of that element, be them "Good" or "Bad", have an impact too, case in point: "Run or Shoot?"

  

Now, for this particular topic we will travel back to familiar territory, although this time we will NOT be focusing on it's story, Yes people, we are going back... to the Resident Evil Games!

 

 

...God! I love that clip, anyways, the RE series started out as Survival-Horror Games, a genre that is based on having the player feel vulnerable. Horror Games want to make you feel in despair, weak, in danger, anyone can just use loud noises or gory imagery and call it "Scary", but a good Horror Game makes you feel constantly uneasy, like you could be attacked at any moment, but you aren't, its not about the scares themselves as much as it is about the atmosphere.
 
And creating a good horror atmosphere is no easy task, which is why you have to use every tool at your disposal, like:

Visuals  

 

Sure, the masked zombie maniac with the bloody rusty chainsaw LOOKS scary, but not RE5-Inventory-System Scary!

    

Making the world and its inhabitants look scary is the usual first step, most of the information we gather from the world around us comes visually, so it's natural to use this as the first tool to scare, although remember, sometimes what we don't see its even more scary than what we see, which leads me to my next point...

Sound 

"I just saved over your Pokemon save file..." - #151 Scariest sound in history.

 

An abandoned mansion is nothing without the creaking sound of the wooden floor, or the roar of the thunder outside, or the wind whispering through the empty hallways. Sound not only works as a direct scare by evoking emotions and feelings (like unease or fear) but also as an indirect one by evoking images. 

 

Hearing the heavy breathing of a monster behind us can be more scary than actually seeing the monster (and most of the time IT IS) , the reason for this is that when we don't see it we imagine it, we create a picture of it in our heads, one that probably is really scary, this is because no one is better at scaring us than ourselves, which leads me to my next point...

 

Concepts: 

 

"Yes, zombies are scary, but we need to go deeper, what about... Clown zombies?"

 

Sometimes you don't even need to show anything for someone to be scared, just an idea might be enough to do the job, let's say the player is about to leave a village to explore the forest, right before he leaves he sees a couple of guards treating the wounds of a third guard, as he passes he hears the third guard softly saying "It came out of nowhere, we didn't stand a chance, it's claws cut through our armor and flesh with no effort..." before falling unconscious.

Now put yourself in that position, after hearing that you wont look at the forest the same way as before, this idea that was presented to you by the Game will impact your experience directly, you will start checking every corner, every branch, any sound will startle you and a passing shadow might give you a heart attack, whereas before you would have just discarded it as being a passing rabbit or bird. It works incredibly well, whether you have the monster attack the player or not, the idea by itself creates atmosphere.

Now, these 3 are the main tools used when creating a horror atmosphere, be it for a Game, movie, TV series, etc., but there is a fourth one that is unique to Video Games, and that is Gameplay. Scaring through Gameplay might sound weird, but it can be one of the most effective tools, reason being that Gameplay directly controls the experience, it's pace, it's tone and other aspects. Let's go back to Resident Evil, specifically the way it handled combat AND movement.

 

Oh God, the Cut-scenes... THE CUT-SCENES!!!

  

Or should i say, the way it didn't handle them, combat and movement could not be done at the same time, while aiming your weapon you couldn't move from your position, and while walking or running you couldn't use your weapons, it was clunky and slow, and for most people this was a drawback, they criticized the Gameplay as... well, clunky and slow, but what they don't see is how this contributes to the horror atmosphere.

Being clunky and slow actually helped build tension and fear, because when faced with an enemy you had to make a though choice, you could either run from it, knowing that it will continue to chase you until it inevitably caught you, or you could stand your ground and fight, but this would leave you open to attacks, and even if you were shooting it the enemy would continue to move closer and closer to you.

 

"I just..." BOOM "...Want to..." BOOM "...trade Pokemon with you!" BOOM BOOM BOOM "...all i ever wanted was... a Gengar" - Zombie #094's Last words.

  

And that was the brilliance of it, even when the character was strong (when shooting) he was weak, even while defending ourselves we were at our most vulnerable, specially since fighting wasn't a fool-proof solution, even if you decided to fire your entire clip of bullets at the enemy there was no guarantee that he would die. Whatever your decision was, you were still going to be at a disadvantage, you were weak, because horror is not about conquering the world, but surviving it.

Having Mechanics as an "Obstacle" works wonders in a lot of scenarios, now, Resident Evil is BY NO MEANS a perfect game, but it does get a lot of things right. Things like the static camera angles made the player feel vulnerable because he/she didn't know everything about his surroundings, the scarcity of ammunition made every enemy encounter tense and made the player consider his long term ability to survive, things like these are great examples on how to use Gameplay as an Atmosphere tool, which, coincidentally, is what "Run or Shoot?" is all about.

 " 'Run or Shoot?' is an analysis of the shooting mechanics in the early Resident Evil games (It's also a phrase made famous in Left 4 Dead's introduction cinematic, but that's beyond the point), and how the fact that the player has to choose between these two greatly impacts the Game's atmosphere and overall feel.

The clunky way combat is handled makes it tense and dangerous, like all of the other aspects in the game. This is something other horror games have done in the past, like the Silent Hill series, where combat is clumsy and puts the player in potential danger, or the game Amnesia, where the player has no way of defending himself and thus is forced to hide and run from the enemies.

These are just some examples on how Mechanics can be used towards creating the desired atmosphere for your Game, the idea is to not discard an element right away just because it feels 'Clumsy' or 'Floaty' or 'Bad', every kind of Mechanic has it's uses. Every Game is a unique experience, and sometimes 'Clumsy' might just be what that experience needs."

 
That's "Run or Shoot?", it's a different way to look at elements inside a game, the idea is to always consider every Game element as a whole, flaws are not bad by themselves, but rather characteristics of an element that go against the Game's concept are bad. A Flawed Mechanic is only a problem if it's getting in the way of the intended experience.

A game's weaknesses can also be it's strengths, depending on how they are handled. Never discard an idea just because it's flawed, because those flaws also have an impact on the game, and that specific impact might actually help you create the world you desire.

-The End.

I hope you enjoyed our little trip back to Boulder-punching-land, thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time, when we'll *SPOILER*SPOILER*SPOILER* , see you then.

It is probably full of bad puns.