Ben Gonshaw: Digital Media Theorist & Game Design Consultant
Home Latest Updates Design Rants Musings Links Comments

WHAT A WORLD

25th October 2004

I watched a movie the other day and there were only two locations in it, a phone booth and a room overlooking it. What made the movie interesting was the depth and emotion involved within that small space. The man held within the phone booth by an off-screen sniper had to lay bear his life. His inner turmoil, the precious few triumphs and grinding tension made for captivating viewing, even though the environment was not that exciting.

Digital games thrive on vastness. The nature of skill-test gameplay is tied intimately to the environment in which it takes place. The task of keeping the game fresh can only be accomplished through extra levels, through more content. An alternative method is to add more depth to a smaller set of content. Spend the same money that you are now, but spend it more wisely. Make the fancy graphics that are required of you, but if that means only making a small portion of street and a room looking out on it, then make just that. Fill the space with something involving and deep, something that players care about, and they will still play it. You may not be able to make a sprawling adventure, but you could make a sprawling narrative journey. This could be just as involving, just as exciting and infinitely more emotive than a game one thousand times the size.

With ‘The Sims’ being the top selling game, vastness is not the issue. What sold Sims was its humanity and soap-like interactions. This was in the confines of one tiny location, and that location was not particularly captivating. Challenge your design skills to come up with exciting deep content and you might find that you only need a space the size of a phone booth to make it exciting.

Write Comment : Back to Musings