Dark souls
The game Dark souls is a dungeon crawler with a map that challenges players to not only traverse but connect each place by means of passageways. The story is non linear and the player only knows, once they gain access to Firelink Shrine (the central hub of the game, where NPC’s are most present), that in this world, there are two bells that need to be rung. It is up to the player to find the two bells and ring them. The player is not told what will happen when the two bells are rung, only that they need to be rung. The player is first informed of the bells and their vague location through an interaction with the NPC Crestfallen Warrior. In Dark Souls the NPC’s assist the character by informing them of areas, again vaguely, and then give the player their personal opinions. The NPC’s range from happy to melancholy and every where in-between.
The NPC Crestfallen Warrior tells the player character “I used to be an adventurer like you. But, then I gave up.” This NPC sets the tone for the entire game and informs the player character that there are indeed other adventures like himself. Some NPCs will reveal they are upset with their own actions, such as getting themselves locked in a house while adventuring or express, to the player character, the duty they have and its personal importance. The player begins to understand why the NPCs feel so strongly because the game is a grueling process of trial and error, the player character will die and repeat most scenarios several times over before reaching the next bon fire (a loose version of a checkpoint). There are no save points and every action the player makes is permanent (no save slots to write over if you get curious and want to test actions that might lead to other scenarios). That being said the game demands a lot from the player and the players struggle and joy is reflected by NPCs.
The NPCs create a rich world for the player. What would otherwise be another RPG in which there is a clear defined protagonist (the player) and an ultimately evil antagonist (the final boss) Dark Souls moves away from this cliche by giving the player character opportunities to piece together a story which is undefined. the player character comes across many NPCs which aid in telling fragments of the story which the player is currently playing. The absence of narrative creates an atmosphere of mystery and intrigue. because the game is so difficult it makes the player ask themselves “Why am I doing this?”. From here the player becomes involved in their own created story. "I left the bonfire and eventually walked down a mountain pass. The pass led to a massive decaying dragon holding on to a mountain’s side. I killed the dragon, who aside from regurgitating poison could not move. I picked up the items (Sword of Astora, Dragon Crest Shield and a Soul of a Proud Knight) that were once in front of the dragon. I read the items descriptions which led me to believe sometime ago a great knight and this dragon fought. The fight ended in the demise of the knight and left the dragon crippled and grasping to the side of the mountain pass." That story was not created by the developer but by the player. Though that story leads to no consequence the player has still experienced it. In a game world which has no clear narrative and the players actions seem painfully futile, the created side stories shape the story for each player separately leading to unique interpretations of each players experience
The game Dark souls is a dungeon crawler with a map that challenges players to not only traverse but connect each place by means of passageways. The story is non linear and the player only knows, once they gain access to Firelink Shrine (the central hub of the game, where NPC’s are most present), that in this world, there are two bells that need to be rung. It is up to the player to find the two bells and ring them. The player is not told what will happen when the two bells are rung, only that they need to be rung. The player is first informed of the bells and their vague location through an interaction with the NPC Crestfallen Warrior. In Dark Souls the NPC’s assist the character by informing them of areas, again vaguely, and then give the player their personal opinions. The NPC’s range from happy to melancholy and every where in-between.
The NPC Crestfallen Warrior tells the player character “I used to be an adventurer like you. But, then I gave up.” This NPC sets the tone for the entire game and informs the player character that there are indeed other adventures like himself. Some NPCs will reveal they are upset with their own actions, such as getting themselves locked in a house while adventuring or express, to the player character, the duty they have and its personal importance. The player begins to understand why the NPCs feel so strongly because the game is a grueling process of trial and error, the player character will die and repeat most scenarios several times over before reaching the next bon fire (a loose version of a checkpoint). There are no save points and every action the player makes is permanent (no save slots to write over if you get curious and want to test actions that might lead to other scenarios). That being said the game demands a lot from the player and the players struggle and joy is reflected by NPCs.
The NPCs create a rich world for the player. What would otherwise be another RPG in which there is a clear defined protagonist (the player) and an ultimately evil antagonist (the final boss) Dark Souls moves away from this cliche by giving the player character opportunities to piece together a story which is undefined. the player character comes across many NPCs which aid in telling fragments of the story which the player is currently playing. The absence of narrative creates an atmosphere of mystery and intrigue. because the game is so difficult it makes the player ask themselves “Why am I doing this?”. From here the player becomes involved in their own created story. "I left the bonfire and eventually walked down a mountain pass. The pass led to a massive decaying dragon holding on to a mountain’s side. I killed the dragon, who aside from regurgitating poison could not move. I picked up the items (Sword of Astora, Dragon Crest Shield and a Soul of a Proud Knight) that were once in front of the dragon. I read the items descriptions which led me to believe sometime ago a great knight and this dragon fought. The fight ended in the demise of the knight and left the dragon crippled and grasping to the side of the mountain pass." That story was not created by the developer but by the player. Though that story leads to no consequence the player has still experienced it. In a game world which has no clear narrative and the players actions seem painfully futile, the created side stories shape the story for each player separately leading to unique interpretations of each players experience
Darkest Dungeon
The game Darkest Dungeon assumes no protagonist. There is also no antagonist. True there is a goal “ To reclaim the lands from the infesting evil.”Narrator. But there is no story to follow aside from the narrator who enlists volunteers to help him close the otherworldly portal he opened in his once great families’ Mansion. From the perspective of the player there are two locations in the game. One being the seemingly never ending amounts of dungeons (all geographically similar side scrolling) and the other is the town, a god like first person perspective. The town is interesting from a geography point of view because all of the places the character could go to are presented in one place in time. There is no traveling like there would be in a third person perspective game. In this way the game is observational, the world is described right in front of the character and continues without the players input.
The game Darkest Dungeon assumes no protagonist. There is also no antagonist. True there is a goal “ To reclaim the lands from the infesting evil.”Narrator. But there is no story to follow aside from the narrator who enlists volunteers to help him close the otherworldly portal he opened in his once great families’ Mansion. From the perspective of the player there are two locations in the game. One being the seemingly never ending amounts of dungeons (all geographically similar side scrolling) and the other is the town, a god like first person perspective. The town is interesting from a geography point of view because all of the places the character could go to are presented in one place in time. There is no traveling like there would be in a third person perspective game. In this way the game is observational, the world is described right in front of the character and continues without the players input.
Dungeon crawl
In this game there is no music and there are no state of the art graphics. The game is made of 8 bit graphics and the player moves one square at a time. The game is presented from a top down angle but the player is not disconnected from the world like in The Darkest Dungeon. The player is not god. What is interesting about this game is the player has no goal other than to reach the Orb of Zod and escape the dungeon with it. The thing is there are many dungeons and many more floors of the dungeon the player needs to traverse and it is all incredibly difficult.
The environment reacts to the player. Through the floors of the dungeons the player comes across potions, weapons and armors and other items to aid in their quest. Occasionally the items will be cursed. The curse will likely leave a negative attribute assigned to the player. Such as finding a plate armor and putting it on. The armor, if cursed, cannot be removed unless the character has a remove curse potion. Yet potions too are unidentifiable unless the character has a scroll of identify. But even so the player does not know if the scroll is a scroll of identify until the player uses the scroll. Because of this the character is highly vulnerable in the early stages of the game. Often the character will end up with many permanent negative traits if the character survives to later areas of the game.
At one point in the game my character was turned into a tree after reading a scroll. My character could not move or use weapons, I assumed it was a game over. But, as an experiment I acted on using the “skip turn” option and eventually was no longer a tree. The game asks that the player be cautious of the environment and when necessary take risks. This aspect of the game involves the player more deeply into completing the game. The goal ultimately is to take the Orb of Zod from an unidentified location and bring it back to the entrance of the dungeon. Likely the player will never reach the Orb but instead will find out how to play the game and through trial and error (this being a rogue like game) be able to meta game in order to get further into the dungeon.
In this game there is no music and there are no state of the art graphics. The game is made of 8 bit graphics and the player moves one square at a time. The game is presented from a top down angle but the player is not disconnected from the world like in The Darkest Dungeon. The player is not god. What is interesting about this game is the player has no goal other than to reach the Orb of Zod and escape the dungeon with it. The thing is there are many dungeons and many more floors of the dungeon the player needs to traverse and it is all incredibly difficult.
The environment reacts to the player. Through the floors of the dungeons the player comes across potions, weapons and armors and other items to aid in their quest. Occasionally the items will be cursed. The curse will likely leave a negative attribute assigned to the player. Such as finding a plate armor and putting it on. The armor, if cursed, cannot be removed unless the character has a remove curse potion. Yet potions too are unidentifiable unless the character has a scroll of identify. But even so the player does not know if the scroll is a scroll of identify until the player uses the scroll. Because of this the character is highly vulnerable in the early stages of the game. Often the character will end up with many permanent negative traits if the character survives to later areas of the game.
At one point in the game my character was turned into a tree after reading a scroll. My character could not move or use weapons, I assumed it was a game over. But, as an experiment I acted on using the “skip turn” option and eventually was no longer a tree. The game asks that the player be cautious of the environment and when necessary take risks. This aspect of the game involves the player more deeply into completing the game. The goal ultimately is to take the Orb of Zod from an unidentified location and bring it back to the entrance of the dungeon. Likely the player will never reach the Orb but instead will find out how to play the game and through trial and error (this being a rogue like game) be able to meta game in order to get further into the dungeon.
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
In The Vanishing of Ethan Carter the Player takes the role of a detective. the lens through which the layer ays the game is first person perspective. the player however does not shoot guns like is most common for first person games, instead the player uses the first person perspective to better see the surrounding. the space of the game is open and there is no clear direction to take in the game. All the player knows is the bits of information the detective that they play as will give at appropriate times.
The space of the game is presented as an open world. The player is encouraged to investigate the area they are in. in the areas they are in they will encounter objects and traps. The objects serve as clues the player takes mental notes of, for example the leg portion of a humanoid body on train tracks which are next to cut rope and a train cart. (this draws the player in by making them wonder “what was this?” and “how does this serve the story”.) There are also traps made of primitive means such as sharpened sticks attached by rope to a heavy rock that is itself roped to a tree branch, when triggered the rock wrapped in sharp sticks will swing like a pendulum which may possibly result in the player being impaled. However, once the player dodges the trap the player is directed by the game to ‘investigate’ the trap. In the investigation the character’s vision becomes torn between two planes of existence, one where the trap is real and one where the trap is not. the game gives the player subtle clues in direction. within the first moments of the game the character comes upon a rickety train cart bridge. What was once a complete bridge is now a series of wood planks atop rusted iron. The player must navigate the character across to avoid certain death. The bridge gives the player audible warnings of where to and where not to step. Such as in possible points of danger the planks will creak and in more severe areas of danger the rusted iron will groan. Regardless of the situation the character is in the player must make use of visual and audio clues to safely cross the terrain and navigate the map to solve the story.
-Brian Dodson
In The Vanishing of Ethan Carter the Player takes the role of a detective. the lens through which the layer ays the game is first person perspective. the player however does not shoot guns like is most common for first person games, instead the player uses the first person perspective to better see the surrounding. the space of the game is open and there is no clear direction to take in the game. All the player knows is the bits of information the detective that they play as will give at appropriate times.
The space of the game is presented as an open world. The player is encouraged to investigate the area they are in. in the areas they are in they will encounter objects and traps. The objects serve as clues the player takes mental notes of, for example the leg portion of a humanoid body on train tracks which are next to cut rope and a train cart. (this draws the player in by making them wonder “what was this?” and “how does this serve the story”.) There are also traps made of primitive means such as sharpened sticks attached by rope to a heavy rock that is itself roped to a tree branch, when triggered the rock wrapped in sharp sticks will swing like a pendulum which may possibly result in the player being impaled. However, once the player dodges the trap the player is directed by the game to ‘investigate’ the trap. In the investigation the character’s vision becomes torn between two planes of existence, one where the trap is real and one where the trap is not. the game gives the player subtle clues in direction. within the first moments of the game the character comes upon a rickety train cart bridge. What was once a complete bridge is now a series of wood planks atop rusted iron. The player must navigate the character across to avoid certain death. The bridge gives the player audible warnings of where to and where not to step. Such as in possible points of danger the planks will creak and in more severe areas of danger the rusted iron will groan. Regardless of the situation the character is in the player must make use of visual and audio clues to safely cross the terrain and navigate the map to solve the story.
-Brian Dodson