A Twist in the Tale

//Defying gravity
Perhaps the most ambitious take on this design method is Gravity Bone, a free, short, first-person espionage feast by Brendon Chung, a.k.a. BLENDO Games.  A fair spoiler warning is in order before launching into what follows.  Since it’s free, and only a small file size, you might want to have a play through before we continue.

Though the heavily stylised art direction impresses from the outset, it’s all a rather straightforward affair as far as actually playing the game goes.  You pick up missions, and complete them using a small collection of tools.  It’s cosmetically a first-person shooter, and athough you don’t collect a gun during the first two missions, you assume that time won’t be too far away.

Then Gravity Bone does something interesting.  It ends.

It ends with your second mission going wrong, a spectacular and thoroughly hilarious chase sequence, and ultimately your character being shot. Your life quite literally flashes before your eyes.  The credits roll.

Gravity Bone’s confidence is astounding.  It sets up what you expect will be a lengthy, involving experience, only to cut it short before your adventure even begins.  It teases the player with glimpses of things to come, then whips them away in an instant.  It thrusts completely against the norms of videogame progression – introducing skills that will never be required, setting up a story that will never be told – and, in doing so, manages to pull off one of the most remarkable, surprising and delightful twists in my feeble gaming memory.

Honestly? You could probably only get away with something that astonishing in a free game.  People want to know what they’re spending their coins on, and if they discover that… well, the surprise is ruined.  The other route is to create something particularly abstract, and have none of it make much sense until the final scene. But even then you’ve got to be careful, and the best example that springs to mind – the thoroughly weird but oddly moving Yumme Nikki – is also free.

//Perfectly formed
But games like Portal show this method can work in a commercial product.  One of the secrets is perhaps to create a game that has a tremendous amount of appeal, even without the big reveal or shock shift in focus.  Portal’s “straightforward” puzzle game section is strong, charasmatic and original.  There’s already a good game there.  The twist serves to turn this good game into an exceptional one.

And although it only lasts a few hours, its packaging within The Orange Box, and budget price outside it, meant Portal still represented excellent value for money – something clearly important given the current economic climate.  This is a tricky one, since few developers have the financial stability or inclination to risk attempting to profit on a bargain-bin title.  But if a few prolific developers did take that risk, the result could be fascinating.  These games might be short, but they represent the pinnacle of surprising, intelligent design.

“You don’t know what you’re doing,” says GLaDOS, as you drop her parts one-by-one into a furnace.  She’s right – and that’s where the joy lies.

Pages: 1 2