(4.75 out of 5)Imagination is unlimited, games should be too
Chris Bateman has written an excellent article on mimicry, the part of a game that allows you to be someone, or something, you’re not. I suggest you read the entire article, but I’ll quote some parts here that I want to respond to.
Sim City had impressive success for its day by offering the mimicry of building a working city, but was limited by its focus: although creating a city was entertaining, it didn’t engage a great many players for an especially long time, in part because of its inherent complexity and emotional distance.
The ‘emotional distance’ part seems interesting to me. What does that mean for a game like Bejeweled? Would the game be more appealing if, for example, you could play a diamond miner who has to swap jewels or would that be completely gratuitous? Would every puzzle game benefit from adding mimicry to it?
There are many hardcore players (by which I mean, players for whom playing videogames is a lifestyle priority) who claim that graphics are irrelevant to good games. Such players are probably expressing their own bias towards ludic (formal & rule-driven) play. It is categorically not true of all people that graphics do not matter. In fact, the converse is indicated: as a mimicry enhancer, graphics are absolutely critical to the success of games in the mass market.
In my experience, most casual game designers argue that good gameplay is essential and that everything else is a nice bonus. I doubt that’s true though, and in games of mimicry it might even be the other way around.
I don’t think it’s limited to graphics. Graphics is a part of what I call the style of a game. It also includes aspects like sound, music and interface design.
I strongly believe there is a vast untapped market for games which present mimicry as their core play. Firstly, such games can invite the player to play in their own way and at their own pace.
Sounds casual to me. If you want to design a game that appeals to players who aren’t hardcore gamers, then you shouldn’t assume that your players will put up with anything you throw at them. They want to decide themselves how much time and effort to put into the game they’re playing. Yet, many casual games rely on very pure gameplay mechanics instead of on mimicry.
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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William Willing said,
Comment • January 26, 2006 @ 17:26
It goes the other way round, too: style would be relevant even in cases where gameplay is the game’s most evident quality.
‘Clean’ is a style, too. It tells the player that the focus of the game is on pure - usually abstract - gameplay. I think this point is important enough to put it into a separate article. Thanks for the idea. 
Casual Game Design » Your game has style said,
Pingback • January 26, 2006 @ 17:35
[…] In my previous post, I wanted to comment on Chris Bateman’s article on mimicry. This led to a comment by Chico Querioz of nongames.com to which I wish to comment. If, after reading this comment, you have something to say, don’t hesitate to comment. […]
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chico said,
Comment • January 26, 2006 @ 15:45
Congratulations on the website! Casual games (and casual gamers) are one of my favourite subjects inside game design. It´s great to see a website dedicated to them.
(…)I doubt that’s true though, and in games of mimicry it might even be the other way around.
I don’t think it’s limited to graphics. Graphics is a part of what I call the style of a game. It also includes aspects like sound, music and interface design.
I agree on the importance of the ’style of the game’, as you put it. The idea is similar to the term ‘Color’ used by Greg Costikyan in ‘I Have no Words & I Must Design’, from which I quote “Color counts for a lot: as a simulation of World War II, Lawrence Harris’s Axis & Allies is a pathetic effort. Ah, but the color! Millions of little plastic airplanes and battleships and tanks! Thundering dice! The world at war! The game works almost solely because of its color.”
In the case of casual games, usually less complex than hardcore games, and freeform games (or non-games) such as Electroplankton, the importance of style is even more evident. However, it could be that a simple, ‘clean’ gameplay scheme helps to bring those qualities up. Gameplay would be, to say the least, relevant even in cases where style is the game most evident quality.