Random Encounters in Imaginary Realms

Turn Based Games - Why Are They Still Here?

nobody@vox.com(Random Encounters) — Thu, 08 May 2008 00:12:29 -0700

I understand the origins of turn based games. There was an era when your PC or game console had far less memory and CPU horse power than your pocket calculator, let alone your cell phone or some Happy Meal toy with a little game embedded.

Now, consoles are super computers. At least, by the definition of a super computer while I was growing up. There's a physics lab that uses Playstation 3s. That's a lot of power to compute all manners of events simultaneously. Regardless, decisions to make games turn based are still made. Why's that?

First, what exactly do I mean by Turn Based? The flow of the game is broken up into phases the player can discern or "turns." There's of flexibility as to when turns can occur and how much happens within a turn. Chess what I'd refer to as a rigid turn based system. You and the other player each alternate. There's no way that your opponent can move twice in a row; all players get an equal number of turns throughout the game up until a winner is declared.

I remember Final Fantasy Tactics considering itself a "semi-real time" strategy game. Really, what this game does is shuffle turns about, making them depend on the in-game characters' relative speeds. If character A is twice as speedy as character B, A gets twice the number of turns as B in a given time frame.

Simplicity.
This has to be the biggest strength of making gameplay turn based. It's a sweeping generalization, which I'll break down.

One Thing at a Time.
By definition, turn based is a sequence of well defined phases of gameplay as mentioned before. In a sequence, the next item doesn't start until the in-progress item has finished. Think of it as series vs parallel processing. The player can devote all of their attention to what goes on in this particular turn. Not to say that what will happen in the turn isn't necessarily going to be complicated, but by focusing the player on a certain phase, the game's "signal to noise ratio" goes up.

Allows for Strategic Thinking
I did not want to paint myself into the corner by saying that Turn Based is inherently more strategic than any other play style, but a lot of turn based games I enjoy make it easier to assess information and make decisions based on the long term of the battle than a real time strategy game.

Pace Control
The player has it. My friend's sister sticks to RPGs with turn based combat. Why? She's got 2 crazy children that could wreak havoc at the drop of a dime. Hitting a "pause" button doesn't enter her mind when junior is sticking his fingers precariously close to a wall socket. While this is a very extreme case for the benefits of a turn based system, allowing more player control of how fast the game progresses certainly has its benefits.

Ease of Prototyping
At least, in theory, it's easier to do a paper game based off, say, Final Fantasy 7 than it would be, Star Craft. Punch some buttons to calculate who goes first then start dishing out the damage. This is more of a development related issue, as I doubt that the masses out there will go forth and create a Final Fantasy 7 board game.

So, what are the weaknesses to Turn Based gaming? Pretty much, everything I mentioned before. As in, what makes turn based gaming strong can also be spun into a weakness. I haven't had a turn based game really engage me much these days, I've been gorging myself on realtime games such as shooters and RPGs with real time combat like replaying the previously abandoned Ys Origin.

Number, not Skill Driven
This has to be my biggest qualm of a lot of turn based games. I have a reasonable set of reflexes. When a monster charges at me and I see an opening to get away, I'll go for it. However, with most turn based games, this sort of thing gets determined for me by my character's agility or some other type of statistic. There are some games that mix things up like Eternal Sonata and give you chances to block and counter attack real time while the rest of the gameplay is turn based which works.

I'll have more on this, my thoughts about turn based gaming still feel a bit disorganized for my tastes.

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Still strumming along...

nobody@vox.com(Random Encounters) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:50:16 -0700

Job? Still looking. I did manage to score a few good leads at GDC, lost another lead(things seemed promising then I just stopped hearing from this one company.) I'm getting some game development out of my system. HUGE thanks to my friend Kyle for engineering and support. The game isn't quite playable yet but at least there's a source control system in place now.

Playing? The Japanese import of Etrian Odyssey 2(whether the game gets that name for a US release is beyond me.) I do love this quirky series of DS RPGs. They're markedly old school, but what intrigues me the most is how utterly well balanced they are. At one point or another, you are very likely to need just about every skill that the game boasts. In the first game, I actually had to stop and power level a new band of characters just to get past a very long series of battles. I had a party built to destroy opponents in a few turns but they completely lacked the ability to survive long fights. EO2 gets rid of a lot of the abilities that were "cheap" in the first game, makes a number of very useful abilities a lot easier to access. Players have a lot more freedom to tweak stats. I can now pile a bunch of points into agility for a typically slow character, allowing them to act first, etc.

Also playing through Lost Odyssey. What's with all these "Odyssey" games lately? It's...typical of a JRPG. Unfortunately, I think I've got a great big sign on my back that says "SUCKER" that only Japanese RPG companies can see. Not that I disdain Western ones(I am very impressed with Mass Effect, I might add.) I guess JRPGs are my equivalent of reading celebrity tabloid magazines. At least, very typical games like LO feel that way. There's plenty of JRPG gold that shouldn't ever be lumped with anything lesser. Or I'm just playing through it to pass the time until Tales of Vesperia or something really good comes my way.

Audio Surf. That Romanian disco track that we all know as the Numa Numa song is one heck of a stage! I've been sticking to Mono Pro(occasionally Ninja) and I still need to futz aroudn with the other play modes.

When I get money again, I'm picking up Bully for 360. And Echochrome for PSP.

I also have a strange bout of guilt. I know a game reviewer. Said reviewer had a game that wasn't their cup of tea. However, it was mine. After much frustration of being unable to pass this one mission, I was given the controls. The mission was hard, and I failed quite a few times. Later, I checked the game's official site. It touted some game mechanics that would make the player's characters more powerful. Possibly enough so to pass the mission. If this feature is so widely touted, why wasn't the reviewer able to pull it off? They sounded like they'd never heard of the mechanic.

To be fair, I wonder how this game taught the reviewer to use this powerful mechanic. If the game did at all. Then again, I skipped the Ring tutorial in Lost Odyssey. BIG mistake, given how integral they are to game play and doing well in battles.

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Ideas and Evolutions

nobody@vox.com(Random Encounters) — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 13:56:12 -0700

When I was a kid, I came up with all kinds of game ideas. Mechanics, plot twists, you name it. I started playing video games at the start of the 16 bit era in consoles. Games were pretty darn simple then.

The idea of playing through a game as the good guy first then the bad guy, only to realize the bad guy really wasn't that bad then the good guy isn't really that good probably wouldn't fit into an 8 meg cart. Now thanks to CDROM that's no longer an issue. Space is cheap.

Have a game where your objective is to chart and explore unknown territories. Document the creatures there and how they can be useful as food, domestication, whatever. Some notable changes in input devices and again, another in storage space have made this childhood pipe dream a reality.

Did I actually get to make these games? Alas, no. Or I would really like to say, not yet. Other people have independently come up with these ideas and implemented them in their own games. When I played these games as a kid, I was livid! I wanted to be the one to pioneer the idea to market, not these people!

As a designer, not all of my decisions have been good ones. I directed the engineering team to make some strong changes with a game because I thought it would work. After playing the protoype with the adjustments I ordered, I would know if I was right or wrong with certainty. This little exploratory diversion cost money. Time for engineering, art and myself working to create and polish a tangible form of the idea.

When I see ideas I dream of in other games now, I breathe a sign of relief. Compared to some of the things I've read written fellow designers, I feel like I am an alien from another planet. Most other designers talk about "fully interactive stories" and "emotionally engineering the full experience." Boy was it nice to hear someone else in the industry say they wanted players to use their imaginations. Or, they didn't really care if a game isn't realistic, as long as it's fun.

I wanted to put in some kind of power meter that depletes if an attack button is repeatedly hammered upon. Odin Sphere does something like this, and when your power meter is completely spent, your chacter sits there dizzy. The power meter did succeed in making me plan my strikes better, but I thought leaving a character open to attack standing still would be a little severe so I'll just take that into consideration when utilizing the mechanic for my own purposes. I just got to enjoy a prototype created on someone else's dime.

Usually, it's children that are considered more creative and imaginative, as the harshness of reality hasn't hammered "impossibilities" out of their heads. Still, I guess it's amusing that I didn't truly consider my ability to take an idea, break it down and pick out the pieces I like, thus -to me- making it better.

It really is pretty amusing.

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Parametric Building Design

nobody@vox.com(Random Encounters) — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 12:32:01 -0700

It's funny how architecture and level design are merging in a way.

Video Link to lecture

A parametric building model combines a design model (geometry and data) with a behavioral model (change management). The entire building model and complete set of design documents is in an integrated database, where everything is parametric and everything is interconnected.

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Special Thanks to J.R. Antrim on this one

nobody@vox.com(Random Encounters) — Wed, 30 May 2007 10:41:36 -0700

Struggling with picking colors that work well together? J.R. has pointed me out to this handy dandy 100% FREE program!

Color Contrast Analyzer 1.1

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I love this interview

nobody@vox.com(Random Encounters) — Fri, 18 May 2007 15:13:38 -0700

Yes, I know I have been blabbing quite a bit about Earth Defense Force. To me, it is a very important game; it shows that there's still people with sense out there in the industry. Takehiro Homma is some kind of ray of sunshine and he reassures me that I'm not a moron for making a game fun my #1 priority.

Takehiro Homma on developing Earth Defense Force 2017.

Summary
Interviewer: Why did you do something this way? It's not realistic!
Homma: Because it's fun.

EDF is a game people certainly like to bag on. It's not without its flaws, but it's an addictively fun game. Although, hell, a lot of these flaws such as the blatantly unrealistic physics, cheap-for-a-360-game graphics, and destructability of the environment do lead to it being so much fun.

It's refreshing to hear someone who has a leadership role in games that puts fun at the top of his priority list. I've worked with people who tend to be wrapped up in "immersive," "emotionally moving," "full of verbs," or "strategically deep." EDF reeks of B-movie goodness so I suppose it does have immersion. Emotionally moving? It's hardly a Homer or Lord Tennyson poem but thrill and joy? Those are emotions. Verbs? Really, all I need is "shoot." "Fly" and "Ride" also apply, but vehicles in the game are unwieldly. Stay on foot, you can't collect power ups in vehicles.

Ok, I'm rambling now. Enough of this.

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GDC 07: Design Challenge

nobody@vox.com(Random Encounters) — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 17:20:43 -0700

When I first read what the topic was for the Game Design Challenge, I immidiately thought of Squares. According to this website, the game I call "Squares" is called "Capture." I swear to you, even though I posted this after GDC, I really did think of Squares a month or so before the event. Heck, I kept trying to kick myself to post it so I could put up a big "I TOLD YOU SO!" post.

Alas, I cannot go back in time and do that. I judged the 3 entries with an "Iron Chef" view. In Iron Chef, your goal is to take the secret ingredient and make use of it's strengths, play well with its weaknesses. Of the 3 entries, only one person accomplished this feat: Alexey Pajitnov. The other two contestants created games I would be interested in playing, no doubt.

Rather than bending the designs to the platform, they kept skirting around the platform. It's as if Jaffe and Smith said "the theme is pears? Pears are similar in consistency and composition to apples! Substituting pears for traditional apple dishes should work!" On the other hand, Pajintov took the pear, shoved it on a plate, removed the skin and added a little wine or something. He didn't do much to the pear, but wine soaked pears is a dish a lot of people love and it does indeed involve pears. Not substituting in for a recipe that really calls for apples.

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Where Angels Fear to Tread...

nobody@vox.com(Random Encounters) — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 18:11:16 -0700

...is a favorite track of mine from the Seiken Densetsu 3 Original Sound Track. I've been given a rather interesting assignment; cracking one of the toughest nuts in all of game design(non-video game design included!)

Make it educational and make it fun.

"Educational" strikes more fear into the hearts of those in the game industry. Until "Brain Training" for the Nintendo DS, the world of "educational interactive software" was riddled with failures. No, I shouldn't say that, Carmen Sandiego moved quite a few units as she demonstrated how much fun geography and history could be when placed in a sleuth/adventurer package.

I've got a bit of a cognitive science/psychology background and boatload of fairly vivid childhood memories(if not, there's always mom, a photo album and a box of old toys if I'm really hard pressed) and so I feel like I can get a good idea of what really young children are capable of perceiving, let alone enjoying.

Part of me is really wondering about video games for the 2 to 5 year old segment. To be honest, I really don't believe kids of these ages should be plunked in front of a TV watching a bouncing ball go across the screen. Actually having the kid go out and bounce the ball him or herself at the age fires off way more synapses than brain training could ever claim to set off.

Is it possible to make a game that actually encourages the player to stop playing it to do something else and still be fun? It's certainly a challenge to look into!

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