A Struggle to 999 Flowers (Chibi Robo: Park Patrol)

January 10th, 2011

The goal in Chibi Robo:Park Patrol is simple, fill a derelict park with 999 flowers. The means is simple also:

Basically, the player repeats this process until they reach the magic number.

The climb to 999 flowers is managed by a set of constraints and punctuated by a series of events which flesh out Chibi Robo:PP beyond the skeleton procedure presented above. Below is a list of the most notable constraints:

Events are largely story-based and involve either fending off smoggling attacks in the park by the villain Miasmo or going into town to explore and meet with NPCs.

As the player restores the health of the park, they are rewarded with heart points, a currency for each environmentally friendly action, which can, in turn, be used back at base to buy items that lighten the above restrictions. For example, purchasing a larger battery means that Chibi can go out for longer ventures in the park without being forced back to an earth socket so quickly. These restriction-reducing aids come into shop after growing a preset amounts of flowers. Growing flowers is proportional to the happy points made (as most of your happy points come from growing flowers) and since you need the spend happy points to loosen the restrictions, the more flowers you grow, the less restrictions the player has to grapple with. Chibi Robo: PP‘s pace therefore resembles an exhale as progression (flowers) is relative to the relaxing of restrictions.

I specifically use the word “exhale” because the restrictions imposed on the player needlessly impede the enjoyment of the game. Right at the beginning, Chibi only has a 50 volt battery, meaning that most instances of play are 2-3 minutes long. So, in one day the player is forced back to base maybe 3 times, each time filling the gameplay with down time while you hold up to walk along the most effective linear path home and running through the same repetitive dialogue by the base’s overly talkative computer system, being asked to save and what not. It’s downright tedious and perhaps a little demeaning too. You just can’t wait to get that 100 volt battery, but even once you do it’s not long before you bump up against the same drama.

If we remove all limitations, it’s plain to see that the daily life of a Chibi Robo is a monotonous one: the formulaic set of mini games listed at the top of the page. Spray water, play music and repeat. There’s no nuance, variation or depth to this busy work, besides adding music tracks to your tape player. But even this already tedious process of repetition is prolonged by a series of questionable and abstract constraints that seem only in place from hinder the player. Although there are options for friends to build new structures to customise the park, there is no incentive to do so as wasting heart points on these projects gets in the way of development.

Perhaps the irony of it all is that while the park environment develops throughout the game, the internal environment of the player’s soul is depleting amongst the ceaseless busy work.

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DP’s Games Crunch 2010 Part #1

January 7th, 2011

And so another year of games crunching. In brief, for every game I’ve played this year I pitch a short, snappy summary that tries to be informative and interesting at the same time. Most of the games here I’ve written about them elsewhere on the blog, so it’s easy to refer back for more substantive reading.

Also, sorry for the week-long delay. I’ve been running short on material to write about and haven’t started this article as I was waiting to get some scans in from Australia. Fortunately, I’m back on track. Expect future posts on Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Wario Land 4, Chibi Robo: Park Patrol, Fallout 1 and 2, Metroid Prime Hunters and Wolfenstien 3D.

Rainbow Islands

I loved playing this game as a kid, but could never get past the third world and just figured that I wasn’t very good. Well, actually there’s more to it than that. The enemies move horizontally too quickly for the player to easily dodge. Jumping to avoid is problematic as you’ll either fall through the rainbow you land on and fall down further or jump to the platform just above you which is likely populated with enemies. The level design works to exacerbate this dilemma by spacing platforms in vertically tight-knit clumps (and then populating many platforms with hard to predict enemy types) and leaving gaping holes throughout the level to fall to your doom. Typically unruly arcade-era coin-eating design.

Plants Vs Zombies

I can’t understand how people find this game to be so additively compelling. The strategies are very simplistic and the majority of the player’s time is spent watching how things slowly play out, which is made all the more agonising by the fact that it’s easy to predict what will happen. Plants Vs Zombies requires such little and such limited interaction to keep me personally engaged.

God of War III

Articles on God of War III

The logical conclusion to a franchise which originally based its core mechanics on another game (Devil May Cry) and then became the fattest chicken in the hollywood-driven mainstream video games coop: superficial restructuring over fundamental innovation. The storyline is schizophrenic too.

The Path

I fall on the apathetic side of responses to The Path. The goal of The Path is, as a troubled emo variant of little red riding hood, to follow the path to grandma’s house. Well, actually, the game deliberately pips the player to go off track into the woods to explore what is a metaphor for each girls emotional concious. Further evaluation of this game depends greatly on personal interpretations. I could say that the walking and interaction mechanics are ghastly, but then others would say that The Path should be interpreted as art and not entertainment on the barometer of fun. In which case, I didn’t really care for the thin emotional expression. Perhaps it’s a failing of truly using the assets of the medium, where really The Path only allows the player to minimally control a slide show of abstract imagery. It’s probably best to make up your own mind. Here are some resources:

The Path: A Postmortem

Eurogamer Review

Heavy Rain

Articles on Heavy Rain

Some critics complain about the non-American voice acting of in-game American characters, the clichéd hollywood tropes and mundane tasks as a way to distract readers from the indisputable fact that Heavy Rain, not without clear, easily-resolved faults, manages to dismantle skill as a necessity in video games. Heavy Rain‘s design is a model for an alternative style of game and this is very important.

deBlob

Articles on deBlob

deBlob embodies the laid-back personality of Australia, where the game was developed, through instances of play with light constraints and lots of player freedom. The segregated level design splits the world into chunks with each area hidden behind gates with modest, colour-the-world objectives required to open the next part. This segregation of the open world keeps the player from steering off track or being overwhelmed, thereby keep the game’s breezy mojo in check.

Klonoa

Articles on Klonoa

If you have kids, then both deBlob and Klonoa are excellent Wii games for them. Solid building blocks for platforming (tossing items, the double jump, perspective switching) are steadily teased out with new and interesting permutations in enemy and level design. Klonoa‘s ending is a surprising tear-jerker.

House of the Dead: Overkill

Articles on House of the Dead: Overkill

Not for the kids, but a great Wii game that, along with the 2 games above, proves that 3rd parties understand Nintendo design paradigms very well. Simple gameplay systems that consist of a condensed number of mechanics where the elements of the game (level design, interactive points, enemies) broaden, deepen and strengthen the mechanics.

Fallout

Articles on Fallout

We interpret the world through our lived experiences and video games have the potential of enriching our lives by allowing us to experience things that may not be possible in our own lives. Fallout’s morally derelict post-nuclear war setting is a great setting to experiment with morals and grey ambiguity. See my writing for more.

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Wasteland Ventures (Fallout) #4 – The Survival Trinity

December 29th, 2010

As the spoilerific video above shows, Fallout can be a ploughed through in under 10 minutes, but those who’ve played Fallout the long and proper way know that getting to the end is not nearly as easy as the video makes it look.

There are three main goals in Fallout: return the water chip to Vault 13, destroy the mutant plague and kill the mutant leader. These goals may seem simple enough, but they’re caught beneath a myriad of layered restrictions which blur the direct course to each solution. These restrictions are pertinent to what I call the survival trinity: intel, combat and inventory; the three subsystems of Fallout’s gameplay and the areas of expertise the player needs to master in order to complete the three goals and beat the game.

Intel

Unlike in JRPGs where a core area (cave, tower, dungeon)-town-core area structure dictates the general level design and progression model, in Fallout, the world map is simply a giant, unmarked black box awaiting you. With such vague goals and a seemingly open world to explore, the player needs to find their own direction and to do that they require the first piece of the trinity, intel. It’s up to the player to brief themselves on the world, as Fallout only offers 2 concessions from the onset: the name of a nearby town (Shady Sands) and a purpose (get the water chip). So, it’s the information that the players themselves must scrounge out that will lead the course of direction, and not a rigid form of forced progression.

(Granted Fallout’s still a primarily linear game, but one which uses a series of more natural, soft constraints which work progressively to limit the player’s access. For example, continually more difficult enemy encounters on the world map and denied access into some townships prevent the player from delving too far ahead).

Once the player finds word of another shanty town through conversing with the locals, that location is marked on their world map screen. The towns themselves are very different to those in JRPGs. A typical JRPG town consists of the following: an inn, a weapons store, an armour store, a magic store and a quest giver. These games even go to the liberty of marking these out for with labels on shop fronts and a clear language of level design. Fallout, sticking to its nuclear apocalypse theme, is much more variable than that. On arriving to a town, the player needs to find out who the big players are and what’s happening. Oftentimes the player cannot even access these quest givers unless they meet certain conditions requiring knowledge gained elsewhere.

In practical terms, communication is a very simple mechanic. Players just click on a character to initiate a conversation. Various dialogue options then appear when appropriate. Depending on what option is selected, various opportunities for using the other mechanics open up (combat for instance). For example, if you agitate an NPC enough through dialogue options, then they will attack you. Increasing the speaking statistics opens up more dialogue options and therefore more interesting possibilities for gameplay (ie. convincing the Khans leader that you are his father). As with life itself, communication is the conduit to greater things.

The majority of Fallout‘s restrictions are intel-based. If the player learns the ins-and-outs of the wasteland through conversation then it’s easy to breeze through, as the speed run video so nicely demonstrates. That is, actually knowing what to do can circumvent the need for combat or specific inventory. As we can see in the speed run video, the other parts of the trinity aren’t necessary in this run of the game. But, because Fallout is so opaque, finding out this information in the first place fills the meaty duration of the game and ultimately requires the use of the other sides of the trinity.

Practical examples of intel and restrictions:

Combat

Combat, as the most primal form of defence and survival is fairly self-explanatory. The wasteland is hardly a safe place, so in order to survive the player will often have to fend off danger. While it is technically possible to meet each of the three goals without conflict (again, see the speed run), for most players combat is a large part of post-nuclear-war life. Hostile enemies populate the world map and most important areas, rational characters will turn on the player and even when responsibly dealing with characters who are so obviously corrupt. combat is required as a form of brute force (Gizmo and Kane). Sometimes force is necessary in order for the greater good.

Combat has the most sophisticated system of mechanics, a turn-based system with weapons, armour and inventory governed by action points. Action points are a currency that regenerate every turn and limit the amount of action per each turn.

Practical examples of combat and restrictions:

Inventory

Inventory is the backbone to combat and other systems. Inventory management mechanics, stealing, trading, unlocking and the actual uses of the inventory items. Having the right inventory opens up doors otherwise inaccessible. I will talk more specifically about inventory management in the following post.

Examples:

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