3.Surprise
On some level, platform games gives you the same thing over and over, but with a little bit different skin. This means that these games can get real repetitive, real quick. Tiny Bang Story is a game that I found had the perfect level of surprise for me without being frustrating.
One of the most innovative parts of the game was the ability to get help when you were stuck. Rather than having a quick and cheap button to press to get help, or not giving any options for help, Tiny Bang Story had a nice middle of the road option. To get help finding a puzzle piece or missing item, you had to collect bees by clicking on them. Once you had obtained enough bees, you could click the ? button and a bee would fly out and circle the area you need to click on to collect the missing item. It was a pain to collect all those bees, but it also made it feel like you weren’t cheating when you got help because you were challenged.
What was surprising about the Tiny Bang Story wasn’t the storyline, but rather it was the unique combination of aesthetics and puzzles to keep the game interesting. You would rarely do the same kind of puzzle–each one had its own unique way of solving it.
2.Level of Challenge:
The best example I can think of for this is Limbo. Limbo was challenging, but at the same time, you didn’t constantly feel overwhelmed, or like you couldn’t beat the game. The challenges were often not about timing things perfectly or hitting jump at just the right moment, but Limbo required you to think through how to do something. It was the thinking that was the challenges, not being dexterous enough to do something (though, there was some of that). I want to know when I play a game that I will be able to complete the challenge when I figure it out. I hate the feeling of doing something over and over and over, knowing it’s right, but that I can’t time things right or click a button fast enough.
A Day in the Woods is another game that balances challenges really well. Sometimes it’s difficult to figure out what to do, but it’s fun to face a challenging puzzle. But it can be really frustrating to be unable to figure out a puzzle. As we see in games like Lume, sometimes it takes prior knowledge in order to figure out a puzzle. For example, I am not able to read music, and one of the puzzles required that ability. In fact, because of my lack of literacy, I didn’t even realize that the music was the puzzle. This led to many frustrating minutes trying to figure out what to do next.
1. Aesthetics:
Aesthetics in side-scrolling puzzle platformers can not be underestimated, particularly when it is an indie game. I think CreaVures does an excellent job of capitalizing on the power of aesthetics.
Some people want to play games because they are pretty. And som
e have likened games to other forms of art and political protest. There is a particular feeling that comes with total immersion in a beautiful game that can’t be duplicated. Being hypnotized, in a sense, by a game’s aesthetics is part of the fun. Trine and Trine 2 capitalized on the draw of aesthetics, and it was one thing that put those games on the map.
Aesthetics and games are fraught with gender and other issues. Many female players I know play games because they’re “pretty,” and this is a view very much maligned in hardcore gaming cultures. We can see this in games like World of Warcraft. Elite players are those who complete challenging quests and are constantly beating the newest content. But there are just as many players who play to make characters, to wander, to explore, and to enjoy the aesthetics of the game. This behavior is not really rewarded, though Blizzard did make some headway by creating achievements linked to exploration.
I think we see a surge of aesthetic players as becoming indie game consumers because indie games are typically visually appealing. I hope this signals developers to consider the desires of alternative players who may be focused on aesthetics as well as game play.
