Blog – Eric Park- Design Corner

I Love You, Colonel Sanders! or: How I Stopped Worrying and Love Capitalism

Harland Sanders, the Chicken Man

In all respects, Harland David Sanders was the definition of self-made success – no matter how much that word is abused by millionaires to sell their story. He lived a life of relative poverty after his father died when he was only five years old. However, there is an important thing to go over before labeling his tale as a ground-up, self-success story; as Colonel himself put it over his two autobiographies, his tale is more about self-discovery. He found out his skill in the culinary industry in the latter half of his life and only figured out how to make money out of it much later on.

Colonel Sanders was also, in all due respects, a businessman. He played up his old Kentucky Colonel title to its limit, strategically dressing up in a white suit and a string tie while growing a goatee and bleaching it white. With the magic of the internet, baseless rumors, and KFC’s ruthless marketing schemes to sell the “southern hospitality” that their chickens and mashed potatoes somehow represent, a character was born – an old, slightly chubby man in a white suit, wearing a dapper black string tie, smiling wide and repeating “finger lickin’ good” in a thick Southern accent, now christened Colonel Sanders, about a billion miles away from the actual person Harland.

The Good ol’ Colonel, ingrained deep into our subconscious as the Chicken Man

What was a “low-cost marketing tool” for a company now was their main brand image- the gentle southern gentleman became endearing for many after multiple successful TV adverts, and with the new digital age rolling in KFC slowly began to realize the full potential of this new thing called social media marketing.

2. Parasocial Relationships and Brands

In her article “Fostering Consumer-Brand Relationships in Social Media Environments: The Role of Parasocial Interaction”, Lauren Labrecque of the University of Rhode Island pinpoints two aspects of parasocial interaction to be vital to the success of social media marketing: perceived interactivity and openness in communication. Perceived interactivity is “dependent on the user’s perception of taking part in a two-way communication with a mediated persona”. Openness is not just revealing information about your brand; it can go as far as “breaking the fourth wall”, crumbling the veil of marketing for an instant to show your “true” intentions to develop trust.

Given a humanoid brand symbol whose famous image of hard work and hospitality has been forever engraved in the brains of the masses, KFC already stands at an immediate advantage. The sole fact that KFC is using a human being who once existed in this world and was a vital part of the company’s branding has given them an upper edge on marketing; they just had to translate the pre-established PSI (parasocial interaction) to the world of social media. KFC has extensively used the persona of Colonel Sanders in many of their marketing projects, not just in social media: from DC Comics collaborations to wine mom romance novellas to… a dating sim.

3. I Love You, Colonel Sanders!

I Love You, Colonel Sanders! A Finger Lickin’ Good Dating Simulator is a 2019 dating sim advergame developed by Psyop and published on Steam for free. The player controls an ambiguously gendered protagonist (called “they” once in the entire game) who enrolls in a three-day culinary college only to fall in mad love with the titular character. The player then must win the heart of the legendary Colonel as they engage in food battles with rivals, encounter monsters, and maybe create a brand new KFC menu that you can go grab at your local Kentucky Fried Chicken store right now.

The Sexy Hunk…… Colonel?
(Image Credits: AdWeek)

Colonel Sanders is only a part of KFC’s bigger marketing project to re-imagine the classic colonel for the modern audience. Chiseling a well-known brand mascot into a Michelangelo sculpture is nothing original; the Quaker bar dude got some shoulder pads and a fresh haircut in 2012 while Mr. Clean got a brand new CGI look and a handful of horny fans off the internet. KFC’s approach with campy Instagram models posing like dramatized Grindr profiles or a steamy romance novella set during Victorian England are all part of reviving the Colonel into the internet era; as they put it, KFC is trying to “make the Colonel a part of pop culture”.

Notice the air of irony that’s surrounding this whole movement. The surreal combination of Colonel Sanders, a pop culture icon engraved into the subconscious of millions, with romance, anime, and naked hunks is reflective of the ironic nature of the modern internet culture. The “modern audience” that KFC is trying to target now becomes quite clear: the denizens of the postmillennial internet age, commonly described through terms like “dank” or “edgy”. The peak of absurdity, weirdness, and the combination of two completely unrelated spheres, something that’s funny because nobody can understand what or why it is funny. Colonel Sanders game is a calculated effort of KFC to actively incorporate internet meme culture into the image of KFC.

It is also important to note the prevalence of Japanese animation (“anime”) in modern American internet meme culture and the American cultural landscape as a whole. This game draws very heavy aesthetic inspirations from modern anime. For the time being, I will define modern anime (2010s onwards) as this: the modern anime is mostly distinguished by heavy emphasis on animation quality (“sakuga”) and character archetypes (-dere branches, bishonen/bishojou, chunibyou, etc.) and a lesser emphasis on overarching themes or morals. These archetypes are important if not the sole guiding principle of the characters and narratives of Colonel Sanders.

I want to retain my sanity so I won’t post any memes but just LOOK at that number

Note: I have my own opinions about modern anime but that is beyond the scope of this post.

1. Gameplay

Colonel Sanders is a dating sim, where the player’s final goal is to seduce and romance the titular Colonel. Dating sims are characterized by branching narrative choices, where players can influence the outcome of the story through direct interaction.

Starting with something more intuitive, this game has quite unfriendly UX design. The quicksave points in this game are quite far apart from each other, and with multiple game over points that end the game right there, chugging through dialogue up until the last point of failure can feel like a chore. Having no real savepoint system also diminishes the fun of exploring multiple dialogue options or going back to see how certain choices impact the macro, hence decreasing replayability. The fact that chugging through dialogue is not easy doesn’t help much either; there are no auto skip functions or faster text speed options, and rapidly tapping spacebar isn’t really what one would consider “fun” or “interactive”.

Minor nuisances don’t stop there. Not only is the default text size quite small, there are also no text size options– a common yet crucial accessibility function that is quite important for many players, especially for such a text-heavy game. A relatively simple omission- yet it greatly diminishes approachability.

2. Narrative

One word can describe Colonel Sanders’s narrative: bland. Dialogue options are quite limited, with most of them being related to KFC products. Fried chicken-related options are often the only sensible options, with others either being outright absurd or resulting in game overs. There was one point in the game where the player tastes Colonel’s chicken for the first time; I thought that being mesmerized by the flavors of the chicken “felt right” for the situation and chose that, only to have my character transcend the material world and resulting in a game over that sent me all the way back to the beginning of the game. The game, through its seemingly diverse but actually very narrow dialogue options, forces the player to choose the “correct” option. The main problem with this is there should be no right or wrong answers in a dating simulator or any game with branching narratives; there can be a moral implication or an overarching message that is influenced by player’s actions but the whole point of dialogue options is to give player agency through a sense of influence over the game world. Why make an interactive experience when interactivity means nothing?

Turns out swimming into the light is *not* the correct answer.

The PSI mentioned earlier kicks in here: the game’s limited dialogue options are a great example of perceived interactivity, where the player is lead to believe that they have control and agency over the situation when in reality they actually can’t do anything. KFC masks the actually limited options using the absurdity and irony of the other options, consuming them as humor while silently pointing at the “correct” response, which always involves a calculated brand message. The genre of dating sims, which is all about interactivity, is manipulated by KFC to be a mere perception of one – for more chicken sales.

When the player chooses the correct options, however, the game temporarily breaks down the barrier of the KFC brand and awards the player with the “sincere” image of the company; the famous backstory of the Colonel, with his thousands of tries to develop and sell the recipe, the emphasis on no cheating or taking shortcuts when making the tasty chicken and mash, even slightly “revealing” the top-secret 11 spices and herbs. And, of course, the instantly eye- and taste-captivating image of the famous Original Recipe, mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw, and mac and cheese. Alas, all of this is only but an illusion of sincerity; the perceived openness of communication that develops trust between the brand and the consumer. These notions of hard work and dedication to the product that the corporation displays are just mere exploitation of the real work and dedication that laborers put into their work; the backstory of the hardworking Colonel and revealing the “secret” recipe all tell the familiar tale of smoke and mirrors about “being the best friend”, of building a sense of trust, brand loyalty, and reversion of power dynamics that exist between consumers and corporations.

3. Characters

There are no qualms about the designs of the characters in Colonel Sanders– every art asset in this game is surprisingly full of character and holds up to the unique anime aesthetics. However, their writing undermines this unique design into simple archetypes that lack depth. As mentioned earlier, Colonel Sanders draws heavy aesthetic influences from modern anime- and its emphasis on character archetypes still applies here. As per genre tradition, the protagonist is a mirror image of the player. Being mentioned once in “they” pronouns, the protagonist is a mirror reflection of the player, a blank canvas with nothing but love for the Colonel. However, based on the background art of the protagonist’s room (with a large K-pop boy band poster and a small accessories box with a pearl necklace protruding) and certain context clues, it can be assumed that the protagonist is a straight cis teenage girl. Though this is quite against the genre tradition of either being a presumed male or having a set/customizable gender option at character creation, it does work for this game where the perception of interactivity is the only thing that matters.

The sparkles and the flutter of cherry blossoms that fill the screen whenever he enters the scene is… absurd

Colonel Sanders is your archetypal bishounen, with sharp, chiseled jawline, thin but healthy overall silhouette, angled white hair, a small goatee to emphasize the “Colonel” part of the character without making him seem old or humorous, and a radiating glow of heavenly light every time he appears on screen. With distinct culinary proficiency and horseback riding skills, the feminine youth and originally homoerotic-inspired look automatically captivates attention yet keeps the presumed heterosexual relationship consistent.

Her entire narrative is filled with great counterexamples for “show, not tell”

Your best friend, Miriam, is used up as comedic relief, and her design and narrative role coincide almost perfectly. With a straight, braided mint twintail and dramatized pink bowties making a heavy contrast with her darker-toned skin and white chef’s uniform, Miriam’s only characteristic is making extremely small food and being anxious over everything she does. There is no character development nor an interesting conflict or chemistry between the protagonists, just a sidekick that is more or less another hurdle to overcome to get to the colonel. The only distinctly Black character in the entire game being used off as comedic relief and filler is quite telling of the depth that the game is trying to give to its characters, or the lack thereof.

Your rivals, Aeshleigh and Van Van, are the typical jock Chad/cheer Stacy bully duo. Aeshleigh is your stereotypical love rival, with her being “evil” and “mean” everywhere except when the unaware Colonel is looking. With brows held high and her demeaning eyes constantly looking down at the player while her hourglass-shaped body, watermelon boobs, and Elastine hair swings around for marketed sex appeal. Van Van surprisingly draws heavily from queer aesthetics, specifically from the muscular, tan, posing aspects of the likes of Tom of Finland or, more recognizably, the character design of earlier JoJo. A distinct star-shaped hair, protruding eyelashes, tan skin, and hunky leather jacket that highlights his broad shoulders, all of his designs screams gay. This is seemingly obvious for some JoJo fans who are already aware of the queer aesthetics of JoJo and the character archetype that Van Van is borrowing from. However, he constantly pairs around with Aeshleigh, being jealous of the Colonel and disappointed that Aeshleigh doesn’t direct any attention towards him instead.

You’re telling me, KFC, that THIS F***ING GUY IS STRAIGHT???

I think now is a good time to mention how aggressively “no homo” this game is. From the aggressive use of feminine gender signifiers and stereotypes on the genderless protagonist to each character pairing being very explicitly heteroromantic or completely platonic, the narrative is forcing a very heteronormative coupling on all of the main cast. I think this can extend to KFC’s marketing strategy of not alienating their core audience; it is safe to assume that most of internet meme culture is built around cis/heteronormative male culture that is still alienated about direct queer representation while unknowingly straightwashing queer culture. Van Van is an epitome of this phenomenon and somewhat represents an unexplored potential; the fascinating, creative art of the game is downplayed by the bland narrative and characters riddled with archetypes and archetypes only.

The other three main characters – Professor Dog (Sprinkles), Pop, Crank, and Ghost, are all simple comedic reliefs that provide cheap laughs only while they appear on screen because they exist as they are. Professor Dog is funny because he’s a dog. Pop is funny because he’s just a kid who’s underqualified. Crank is funny because he’s a literal oven. The Ghost is funny because nobody pays attention to his existence. All of these characters, despite the art that at least tried to give each of them a distinct personality and some flavor, have a short and limited narrative that begins and ends with their comedic existence.

Hey, *AUDIENCE*, he’s a DOG! And a PROFESSOR! *Insert canned laughter*

This is the main downfall of trying to create a story only with archetypes. They don’t work. When characters are no less than symbols, mere blobs of predetermined expressions, the narrative loses meaning and no thoughtful themes or messages can be told. Narratives can give archetypal characters enough flavor to give them depth, but Colonel Sanders fails in this regard too; most characters begin and end their existence in the world the moment they enter and exit the scene. The narrative is less of a cohesive story about love and romance and more of a bucketful of chicken propaganda with dank memes as the 11 spices.

4. Conclusion

From a marketing standpoint, I Love You, Colonel Sanders is a great example of a successful advergame that attracted the attention of the intended core customer base of social media users – mostly Gen Z and millennial audiences who are already aware of KFC’s brand image but feel disjointed by the good ol’ Colonel image. With the colorful, anime-inspired art, surreal dialogue options, and at least functioning writing that points the user towards KFC’s products, the game was built to be a viral marketing prop and did just that. KFC absolutely did bring back Colonel Sanders to the macro internet conscious – as an anime husbando.

From the perspective of social power difference and parasocial relationships however, Colonel Sanders is a giant red flag about the current late stage of capitalism we face: brands disguising themselves as the “best friends” of consumers through social media and memes. Social media has crumbled down the fourth wall of marketing and personal space, while memes have twisted every notion of generational disconnect and Gen Z anxiety as a one-dimensional aesthetic full of irony and self-hate. As SNS closes the sociocultural gap between individuals, corporations can disguise as a person, building “trust”, “sharing” secrets, and making their “friends” believe that they are valued, that they are the masters of the free market, that they are the ones that control large corporations through the invisible hands of supply and demand – when all that is a mere manufactured perception of agency and interactivity. Corporations are not human beings. They cannot develop trust or friendship, nor can the average consumer interact with them in a meaningful way, both personally and economically in the free market. The socio-economic power difference between an individual consumer and corporation is beyond measure; and when such difference exists, corporations essentially fully own the means of controlling wants and needs — the means of production and consumption. KFC has successfully perceived the average player into believing that there is no power difference between the two — a mutual relationship where they can empathize and laugh at ironic memes, relate with the love of anime and Japanese subculture, and share delicious food with the knowledge that the food will be delicious and trustworthy. In reality, KFC has yet again manufactured a demand for their product through carefully managed PSI and a thorough analysis of the modern demographic, using their image of the Colonel to personify them as much as possible. Under the sexy Colonel anime husbando, under all the cheap and one-dimensional characters and jokes, under the incredibly low-effort design and user experience, under the surrealist and ironic vibe around the entire game, there lies no sincerity or true notions of friendship. Under the “dank” always lies the profit motive to sell more Original Recipe.

In his later years, Harland Sanders was a salaried employee of the KFC company; he became a brand mascot, frequently appearing on commercials and touring around the world to spread the corporation’s gospel about honest work and delicious chicken. What many people don’t know is that he was highly critical of KFC using his image to sell what he thought was a bad product. He once called the mash and gravy as being “sludge” and “wallpaper paste”; he would make surprise visits to KFC restaurants and throw the food on the floor if it was unsatisfactory, in which many cases proved true. He constantly pressured executives to not change his recipe, throwing tantrums at them with such “force and variety of his swearing”, though that didn’t stop the company from simplifying the “throw away the drum chicken”-good gravy recipe. His last-ditch effort to sell honest to God fried chicken almost failed when KFC sued him for reopening his original restaurant at Shelbyville, KY under his wife’s name (the restaurant is still there- Claudia Sanders’ Dinner House). Even on his deathbed, Sanders did not stop criticizing KFC’s food as they changed their menu to cut costs and sell more; he once called the new Extra Crispy “damn fried doughball stuck on some chicken”.

Sanders died at age 90 in 1980 of acute leukemia. Despite Sanders’ protests, KFC still uses the famous colonel in most of their advertising material, glorifying his struggles as an impoverished common man as a story of self-made success into a worldwide market leader in fast food fried chicken that made $2.5 billion in annual sales revenue just last year. The KFC corporation and the Sanders brand still lives on- and KFC successfully reinstated their glorified, calculated image of the Colonel into the modern consciousness with memes, anime, and dating sims. I Love You, Colonel Sanders! A Finger Lickin’ Good Dating Simulator is an egregious example of exploitation of power relationships, personal branding, and parasocial relationships.

However, at the end of the day, the corporate machine still marches on with a white suit and a goatee, implanting demands into our minds with a sole message:

“Buy Our Chicken.”

Future Plans

I’m posting this here just as a reminder for myself. Bigger plans about my trilogy will be coming soon once I have some time to sit down and concept.

Future Plans:

I finished the following:
- Lego Batman Series
- Arkham series: Asylum, City, Knight
  - Narrative essay: video game renditions of Batman vs. Joker and why Lego Batman best captures the absurdity of Batman
- GRIS- do more background research
- DMC 5- typical review. Maybe add in comparison with Bayonetta, talk about stylish action and difficulty
Need more info/experience to write on following subjects:
- Fully revisiting Warframe: the New War is an ongoing topic that will be updated throughout 2020; maybe talk about my dissatisfaction with the Empyrean update?
- Learning curve, new player experience and fighting games: Plan to rack up 50 hours in Tekken and 10-25 each on DBFZ and SFV. Talk about how complexity doesn’t necessarily contribute to steeper learning curve, suggest a conclusion about how and why fighting games in general are conceived as “hard”
- Legends of Runeterra: play more. Might be able to talk about it a bit more once its officially released; how approachable deckbuilding is and how their f2p model is impacting retention rate
Narrative-focused essays: ventures a bit away from the “game design” aspect of my blog but I want to try.
- Video games and capitalism: how the motive of profit maximization and its excessive practices inhibit video game’s growth as a true media and artform
- A 6-part research essay about different schemes of capitalistic manipulation and abuse in video games
  - Part 1: Colonel Sanders, advergames, and “friendly” brands
  - Part 2: Loot boxes, gambling, retention
  - Part 3: The psychology of battle passes, video games as a service, manipulating children
  - Part 4: Microtransactions and mobile video games as a truly mobile medium
  - Part 5: Mobile copycat games, sponsorships, and the culture industry
  - Finale: Final argument about excessive profit seeking and conflict between video games as art and mass media
Concepting:
- Refining Pokemon autobattler:
  - Limit scope
  - Choose a single gimmick to focus around that
  - Simplify things: focus on what Pokemon is for people and design around the philosophy of that
- Cooking games:
  - A general review of the entire genre: talk about Cooking Mama, Battle Chef Brigade, Overcooked, Cook Serve Delicious, and Papa Louie minigames
  - A design analysis of those games: precision, timing, multiple steps, introducing new mechanics
  - Narrative and cooking games: what food stands for in our lives and how cooking games can do better
  - My pitch: a relaxed cooking game about past trauma, connecting with others through food, and the joy of cooking itself

More Obligatory Updates

First, some obligatory updates.

Celeste review needs a bit more time- at least until I finish up Chapter 9. I will go back to the first 4 chapters for the crystal hearts (bare minimum requirement), clear Chapter 8, and then Chapter 9.
I played a lot of Apex Legends during fall break and damn the game has changed. A lot. Crypto is a very interesting character and although he feels very individualistic at first glance (sounds, and does feel like, a Rainbow Six character than an Apex character) but it is UI and VFX that made him a team player. Also really like the direction they are heading with World’s Edge, and don’t get me started on those amazing visuals; its so much more diverse and colorful than King’s Canyon, and eye candy is a very important element in not just this game but any battle royale. Hopefully I can write this sometime soon.
I also had some time to go back to Destiny 2 and finish up the first main questline. Don’t know why but all my gear leveled up to 750? And that mad the game significantly easier to play. Now I feel like it’s time to revisit that Warframe post that went viral (in my standards); I will finish up the remaining 2 free questlines and let’s hope that the New War update on Warframe drops this holiday season. After all that, I’ll be able to post an actually valuable comparison/review post between the two.
Finally, League of Legends’ 10^th anniversary. Hoooooo boy. Riot dropped like 6 games at once and they all look very, very interesting:
- Project A: interesting hybrid between Overwatch and Counter Strike, maybe even a more fantasy-esque sibling of Rainbow Six. I would have to familiarize myself with the competitive esports lingo (peeker’s advantage, netcode, etc.) before I can make some useful judgement here since the game’s heavily focused around the competitive scene.
- Project L: Always hyped for another fighting game! It’s graphics looked very, very similar to Rising Thunder (for obvious reasons, since Radiant was bought out by Riot then they cancelled the project, presumably to focus on this thing). Maybe they are using the same rendering engine as Thunder (excuse me for my ignorant use of words that I probably don’t know the meaning of)? I can only speculate. However, since Rising Thunder’s open source edition has been available for over a year now, I will try to play some of that (pretty sure Project L will be a spiritual successor of Rising Thunder with League IP). I will try out some other “easier” fighting games like Divekick and give my impressions as a whole on what makes a fighting game, fighting games and beginner experience, and skill floor/ceiling. I can see the potential of it as being an interesting discussion.
- Project F, League of Legends: Wild Rift– we only got very minimal information about these, but Project F looks very interesting. We got some time left before its release so I’ll wait a bit before I talk about those. Same goes for Wild Rift; at least its models and animations look stunningly beautiful.

Review: To the Moon

(All screenshots from this video)

CW: Death, depression

Also, spoiler alert (especially important since spoiler ruins this game’s experience)

(Not the best way to start a game review isn’t it?)

I discovered To the Moon through my best friend. I saw that his Steam profile was green so I clicked the store profile page. First thing I noticed was the Overwhelmingly Positive rating that it got. So, back in Holiday season 2018, I bought the whole collection on sale. It would be more than 6 months before I even installed this game in my library.

After three hours, I was a different person.

To the Moon is an interactive visual novel developed by Freebird Games and released in 2011. Set in a not-too-distant future, it tells the story of two young scientists of Sigmund Corp., a company that allows people to fulfill their dying wish by altering the memories of their past. The story revolves around Johnny, whose final wish is to go to the moon, though he does not know why. Player controls Dr. Eva Rosalene and Dr. Neil Watts to navigate through Johnny’s memory and fulfill his wish.

1. Gameplay

Puzzle is rather simple. Doesn’t mean that it isn’t fun.

Gameplay is rather simple, really; player collects different objects from Johnny’s memory that have a specific correlation to his past and solve a simple tile-flipper to move on further back in time. Since To the Moon is much more focused on telling a set story, the minimal gameplay is very appropriate, both to let players focus on the narrative and also to keep players engaged through the story by giving them something to toy around with. Tile flippers are quite simple, but the small UI that displays the minimum (or “ideal”) number of moves to complete each puzzle adds a simple yet engaging spin on the formula that might be tedious. It doesn’t serve any narrative purpose, but it does serve a gameplay purpose, and I think it is an elegant design decision that fits nicely with the focus of this game.

2. Music

Just a quick side discussion about the role of music in this game before I head onto the main element of this game.

Simply put, music in this game is absolutely phenomenal. Piano tracks are carefully and thoughtfully composed and beautifully played out (and by the way, all of this is done alone by Kan Gao. Phenomenal man). “For River” is both used as a foreshadowing (hinting River’s condition through the repeated structure of the song) and a plot device (revealing Johnny’s perspective of River). Contrast this with “Everything’s Alright”, a song written almost exclusively from River’s perspective. It conveys River’s desire to be with her husband despite the difficulty in communicating with him clearly. The track conveys what it’s like to feel like River (“Shorts steps, deep breath”, “Chin up, I can’t / Step into the spotlight”, “Why do my words / Always lose their meaning?”) but conveying that River will go anywhere with Johnny- even through death, even to the most outlandish place most people come up with, so out of reach to most people that we use it as a colloquial expression to convey impossibility: to the moon.

Laura Shigihara’s beautiful vocals and Gao’s gentle piano, combined with these themes, are definitely one of the key elements that make this game truly stand out. Please go listen to the soundtrack (buy it from Steam of get the deluxe edition).

2. Story

Reverse chronology and Point of View

To the Moon’s distinguishing feature is its backwards storytelling. Rather than telling Johnny’s story from the beginning, we see Johnny at his deathbed, at the literal end of his story. The main question that drives the story forward, “why does Johnny want to go to the moon”, drives us backwards, asking what happened before rather than asking what will happen next.

An interesting observation here: we know from the very beginning that the two doctors have already done this procedure countless times and constantly mention it has moving “forward”. Also, we as players tend to focus on the “why” part of the question, but Eva and Neil, whom constantly mentions that this is only their job and they have a contractual obligation to fulfill his dream, focuses on the “moon” part, constantly seeking the “how” part of the equation. Point of view in this game is quite complicated, as Eva and Neil only serve as observers; though they actively interact within Johnny’s story, they are passive in a sense that their contribution doesn’t align with the central conflict (the ‘why’ part) of the narrative. We as observers, however, see it from a different view, as we are new to this world and this dissonance of experience and purpose caused by worldbuilding makes us detached mentally but attached physically (that we control these characters). I think this dissonance enables us to throw deeper questions about the themes of this game (I will go into this later).

Characters

Both Neil and Eva serve multiple purposes: as a comic relief, as a worldbuilding element, as characters that guide the player through the story (players “Vergils”, as discussed above in point of view section), and most importantly, characters that hold the story together. Going back to the past and only showing Johnny eliminates interactivity and can quickly make the story stale as a sense of driving “forward” is absent in this formula.

Your typical *boke* and *tsukkomi* duos, distinguished guests.

Neil and Eva both take this as a daily routine, a boring job that they are obliged to complete for payment. The fantasy elements (tracking back on someone’s memory through a sci-fi machine) and the hyper-realistic element (it’s their job) creates a sense of absurd contrast, and combined with the (surprisingly balanced) duet between Neil’s nerdy jokes and Eva’s cynicism (am I the only one who’s heavily reminded of Japanese comedy duos?), their presence creates humor, which balances out the heavy overall tone of the game. Them taking this as a routine job also serves as a very organic introduction to the setting and act as very natural worldbuilding; Neil takes up most of the explaining part (and Eva summarizing it), but it really doesn’t feel like a block of text explaining how this world functions because they are so in-character. It felt very smooth overall and I really enjoyed it; it didn’t rely on time travel clichés like time paradoxes or “memory edit” genres like how the protagonist is half-committed and wants to go back (we’ll come back to this later as well). In short, Neil and Eva are the glue of this game that holds everything together, while also serving as main sources of conflict later on (we will go in depth later).

The main character of this story, however, is Johnny. Although character growth moments are achieved by Neil and Eva, Johnny’s presence is not a backdrop to their character growth either; he serves as the main source of contention, where all the plot points revolve around him.

The main thing about Johnny is that he is a deeply flawed human being. Johnny never really succeeded on understanding his partner fully; although outside circumstances influenced his ability to fully mature, it was his desire for love and attention that drove him to date the “weirdest” girl, not genuine love (unlike River). Johnny’s entire life was cruelly manipulated by fate: he was denied a personality as he never really got the personal love and desire from his mother; he lived out his entire life under the façade of his dead brother unknowingly “performing” his character; he resorted to River to fill in that social desire and attention that he was supposed to get from his mother, only to find out later that he (or the empty husk of his brother Joey) just simply cannot comprehend River. River sacrificed her life for Johnny to live out the “true” life that was meant for him- besides River’s bottomless self-sacrifice, I believe that it is Johnny’s fault for letting this happen. You are responsible for your partner; self-sacrifice is never an answer to anything, especially when it comes to relationships and especially when we are dealing with literal life. We get a glimpse of what Johnny was supposed to be like in the alternate history, but that is an empty victory without much gain; he lost his wife and what’s done is done: altering memory doesn’t change reality (one of the questions that I have that I will answer later).

**This** * 1000. #AbledsareAssholes
(Constant usage of the word “cuckoo” in this game might not be the best diction though.)

River is a character that I deeply resonated with- and kind of got mad at the creators for her treatment. Her entire life was a performance to keep Johnny happy and not draw attention. The “weird” acts of folding out origami rabbits illustrates this point pretty well. When we first see River doing “weird” things, like almost falling down while trying to catch the platypus backpack, or her folding origami rabbits constantly, is intentionally placed towards the beginning to let the audience know that something is “off” with her. It is when we meet with Isabelle that we hear the full story: that she falls somewhere within the autism spectrum (subtly hinted to be Asperger’s, but never directly stated). I think Isabelle confessing that she feels jealous of River was a very well thought out scene. For one, “acting” neurotypical so The Ableds^TM don’t freak out is something that disability activists always voice out about. Isabelle “seems” normal because she was trained to be so- she directly states during that café scene that she constantly had to maintain that ‘poker face’ to avoid ableists glaring at her for her entire life. Making sure to speak out about something like this is a very thoughtful move by the writers, and I absolutely have to commend them for this.

Saw a lot of people just laughing it up when this happens.

Another reason why I am calling this a smart move is because it uses the abled people’s bias towards disabled people as a critical plot device. When we are introduced to River’s situation and her “weird” acts, the (majority abled) audience assumes that she is “the weird one”, that she is the “abnormal” on in this equation and that she is the reason why this marriage essentially failed. We get a subtle foreshadowing beforehand, however, to remind us that this might not be the case- after all, why would she literally “sacrifice” herself for her husband’s Sigmund treatment and the house if she knew that she was the only source of problem here (I guess we can say that she is “apologizing” through death, but that doesn’t really explain Johnny’s reaction)? Most (and I will conflate the term “majority” with abled people, I will try not to but if I do, sorry in advance) people just assume that River is “the weird one”, and will just laugh it up as “one of those symptoms” when River makes piles of paper rabbits, or reacts strangely when the backpack is thrown, or when she barely communicates with Johnny at the bookstore, or when she doesn’t get why they have to be right next to each other at the movie theater (River is content with being in the same space as Johnny- [I want to cry.]). However, it is later revealed that Johnny is the one who forgot about everything; he is the one who used beta blockers to get rid of Joey’s memory, to live out Joey’s façade for his whole life, to react “abnormally”. The audience realizes that those “weird” acts by River were actually her making absolute utmost efforts to bring Johnny’s memory back, doing everything in her power; and when all of her efforts fail, she sacrifices herself.

River, a sweet darling though she may be, is a touch too self-sacrificing.

This is where I have some problems with the treatment of River and the macro meta discussion in general: the treatment of women (and especially disabled women) in this game is too binary. River sacrifices literally everything just so his husband finds a sense of happiness in his afterlife. Johnny’s mother, Mrs. Wyles, is portrayed as your typical helpless mother figure: a plot device to generate additional questions and foreshadowing of upcoming elements but never really impacting the story much and promptly forgotten once her part of the story is done. The fact that both are mentally disabled, one by her autism and another by PTSD, don’t help the situation either. Contrast this to Eva (and this is not a compliment by the way), who poses as the “antagonist” for the finale of the game; she is portrayed as cold and calculating, someone who prioritizes her job over other things and who will do anything possible to meet their goal of finishing up the job, no matter the moral implications. So we have two very contrasting and binary main women in the head role: an excessively self-sacrificing one who is often portrayed as overreacting and irrational (her disability frames this view) and a cold and calculating one who, although does show bits of emotion and her act was for the greater good, poses as the apparent antagonist of the plot before her intentions are fully revealed.

Rosalene is pretty hard to empathize from the audiences’ point of view.

I am making this argument because I can’t help myself but to cringe a bit whenever I see women portrayed as either selfless victims or calculating and devoid of basic empathy. I get that for Eva this is a bit of a stretch as she later explains that Johnny’s brother can never be replaced; but I think my point is still valid in a sense that writing could have been a bit better in this regard.

Okay, let’s move on to the big elephant in the room here:

Themes (CW: death, slight bit of depression)

I lost my maternal grandfather last spring. My initial reaction was that of shock; although everybody in the family did expect it coming since he fell ill from a stroke a couple years back, and all of our relatives were ready for it. It was my first funeral experience (as I couldn’t go to my maternal grandfather’s funeral since I was in America back then); the mood was unsettling, everybody seemed tired and a touch sad, and I was stuck in a dark room behind the funeral space our family rented, mindlessly distracting myself from the crowd outside because I was confused.

Truth be told, I was confused because I couldn’t feel anything. It has been more than 6 years since he stopped being at big family dinners (or at least was too sick to attend to most of them); I don’t really have any fond childhood memories with him, and the only fragments of memory that I have about him are all about him lying on a hard stone bed in a dark room. We did have some opportunities to go meet him a few months before he passed away though; he developed Alzheimer’s and lost most of his memory and sensory abilities, not remembering us and forgetting that his spouse was right next to him when he turned his head sideways. My grandmother always maintained a positive outlook, but I could sense the twinge of bitterness in her eyes.

This was mainly the reason why I held off playing this game for so long: I simply wasn’t ready to experience this. The most powerful element of this game is the use of death as a main theme. Mostly young audience of this game never really experienced death in a normal and direct way; if they have, they are only indirect deaths of an old family member (and I know I’m generalizing here but bear with me). To the Moon asks open ended questions about death to the audience: what is death? What would it feel like to directly experience death, to sense that you are slowly dying and there is nothing that you can do to stop it? Will you regret your life decisions? In fact, will you remember any of them? Does your legacy in the world even meaningful, do they last? How did you impact the people around you, and how have they impacted you? The main question tackled by this game is that of regret and legacy. Johnny’s entire life was manipulated by fate and only thing that he could do was to just sit and watch as his life unfolded in the most tragic, unforeseen way imaginable. Through fantastical elements, the game presents an option of “changing” your past but with the catch that you are the only one affected by it. In a sense, Sigmund’s service is incredibly individualistic; it doesn’t consider other people’s impact or point of view but rather manipulates that to fit a fixed destination. The game argues that a person’s existence in this world is finite but their influences last forever. Ultimately, Sigmund’s “wish” system is a utopian exercise that ends in futility; it can suit an individual’s vision perfectly but never considers the impact of death in the real world.

Placed in this deeply flawed setting, the player is led to ask questions about death and its impact. Although making your dreams come true is a goal that everyone wants, it ignores life experiences and impact that you make to the people around you. Ultimately, can we say that Johnny is happy? That he got to experience an alt. universe right before his death when in reality people around him paid for this experience with their literal lives?

As I reached the ending cutscene of the game, I started to put those questions into perspective. What was my grandfather like? What was his impact on me? How would that feel like? Suddenly, I felt incredibly regretful and shameful for my actions; I should have been closer with him, that I didn’t do enough when all I had to do was reach out my hand.

In the end, I can’t really change what I did to my grandfather. But I can say this: I am so grateful and happy that I got to experience this emotion. I am so mind blown by the fact that a simple game made with an RPG Maker, one that basically only relies on default assets made for fantasy games, one that is only three hours long, tops, can evoke such a feeling. I can say for sure that this game has changed my life. However, unlike other games that I have played that have changed my life, this one had a profound impact on my whole worldview.

I say that games are powerful interactive visual medium for a message and that video games are for everyone precisely because of this; I just can’t let other people miss out on this opportunity to change their lives forever.

Thank you, To the Moon. I miss you, grandpa.

Review: Okami

Shortly after finishing up Bayonetta on PC, I heard the news that Okami HD was coming to PC as well. Since I already knew that Hideki Kamiya, the main director of Bayonetta, worked on this game as the main design head, I was immediately interested and purchased the game almost immediately after it was out.

(Tangent- I still own the Dota 2 Ammy courier. My little sun god always carrying that sweet mango for me)

Look at her! The grace! Mythical! Not tradable!

After playing through the first section of the game and ending up in Kamiki Village, however, I got very lost. Quest logs were hard to access and also a bit too vague for me, and since I wasn’t fully accustomed to the controls, I messed up frequently and I got stuck. So I abandoned the game for a couple of months… until this summer when I picked it up again.

I was immediately hooked; I played Okami for a solid two weeks straight after getting out of my internship. I was always tired as hell but this game healed my tired soul from the worries that accumulated during the daytime. For the 3-4 hours every day that I played this game, I was not in my room but rather absorbed in this magical realm of Nippon.

Cover art of Okami HD. Image from Amazon store page.

Okami is an action-adventure game created by Clover Studios (which went bankrupt after this game and most creative heads are now at Platinum). Okami features a gorgeously cartoon-rendered graphics, heavily inspired by ukiyo-e and sumi-e, traditional Japanese painting styles. Set in the world of ancient Japan, the story is about the tales of Amaterasu, the great sun goddess of Japan, taking the form of a white wolf to save Japan from the encroaching darkness. As the world of traditional Japanese folktales and bits of ancient Japanese mythology and history intertwine in a hilarious (yet surprisingly accurate) modern refinement, Okami creates a uniquely comical yet grandiose atmosphere, perfectly fit for a healing hero’s journey. This uniquely Japanese atmosphere is created by multiple factors, including game design, music, and art.

1. Gameplay

i) Map design

Okami’s map design is best described as a “toy box”. The vast land of Nippon is divided into multiple large areas with different hidden objects and secrets. Players are free to roam around within the area without constraint; since the battle is a symbol encounter system, Amaterasu and Issun are free to roam around wherever they wish, either only completing the main objectives and moving on to the next area or digging up as many treasure boxes and secrets as they please. This segmented open-world approach works great for a game with such scale as Okami; each play area is small enough for players to not get lost or get boring while moving around, while still big enough to leave room for hidden secrets and replayability. By purposefully constricting the play area, developers have successfully caught two birds with one stone: meeting the technical constraints of the era while also maximizing the creative potential for each area.

ii) Combat design

Combat in Okami happens through symbol encounter- cursed scrolls float around each area, and getting close enough to them will cause them to follow Ammy around until they touch- that is when combat begins. I personally love this approach; since combat and “normal” control schemes are actually pretty different for Okami, this helps as it both simplifies controls (by allotting one action per button in one mode) and adds an extra layer of depth (as players will need to adapt to both control schemes to be successful). In addition, field combat is almost always optional; I was able to skip through most field combats while also never running out of money for the whole game. Giving players a choice to skip combat entirely works in this case mostly because of scale. Some may argue that this is a failure in proper combat design, but I say that this actually works quite well for a game this large; when every combat is mandatory for a 40+ hour game, combat doesn’t become fun, it becomes boring. This helped me play through the game quite quickly and with great ease, but I never felt like I was not having enough combat- it somehow struck a good balance.

Green Scrolls, the easiest type of scrolls. Image from Wikia.

After encountering with the symbol, random enemies (based on the scroll’s color, indicating difficulty) spawn in a small circular ring. Again, constricting play space does a lot of things at once:

1. It helps players to focus down on that enemy (also the bright red of the wall acts as a good contrast to the mostly green landscape of Nippon).

2. Enemies can be designed around that tight area, placing enough constriction to design creative enemies but not too constricted to limit enemy types

The four elemental Wheeled Destruction. They each have a weakness and spawn only when that weakness is available to the player. Image from Wikia.

Ex: “wheel” type enemies circle around the small arena. Any enemies with a weak “element” (electricity, fire, wind, ice, or water) spawn with other enemies that possess that element (or they have the weak point themselves). Flying enemies never go out of the camera and always stay within a range so that the camera can fully capture both the enemy and the boundary.

3. Save up rendering resource and focus on flashy, speedy combat, which requires quite some graphical power on the hardware side

In combat, Ammy dons the national treasures of Japan: the holy mirror (Yata no Kagami), sword (Kusanagi no Tsurugi), and bead (Yasakani no Magatama). Each weapon can be mixed-and-matched into groups of two as the main weapon and a sub-weapon, with differing abilities for main and sub-weapons, even for the same weapon. The mirror is the most balanced of all three, serving as both a weapon and a shield; beads focus on long-range multi-hits and pokes while sword focuses on heavy-hitting blows and charged attacks. Mixing and matching these three types of weapons result in a surprising variety of combat options. Weapons are always free to equip and change, so it is easy to adapt to different enemies as well. The curiosity to try out different combat options and finding out the best that fits the player is also fueled by the grading system similar to Bayonetta’s; players are always motivated to earn higher grades in combat by avoiding enemy attacks and pulling off cool combos/weapon combinations. I personally went with beads, as they fit my playstyle the most after trying all three. Speaking from personal experience, however, I think that some extra controllability might have been more interesting to play. After acquiring mid-tier bead weapons and upgrading them with gold dust, I almost exclusively used beads for most of the entire game; spamming the attack key was all I had to do to deal damage, which was not the most interactive thing in the world.

iii) Puzzle and Dungeon design

Okami’s main mechanic is the celestial brush, where Ammy can use her powers as a literal sun goddess to affect her surroundings by painting brushstrokes over them. These are your typical main items in a Zelda game or an item gate in a Metroidvania. All 13 can be acquired through the main story, though some of them can be upgraded for extra abilities.

Rejuvenation brush technique. Also one of the best visual moments in the game. Image from Wikia.

This is by far one of the most well-designed game mechanics I’ve seen so far and for multiple reasons.

1) Ease of control

All 13 brush strokes can be written in a single stroke. Not only that, memorization is hardly necessary (unlike the actual kanji, **cough**)- most of the brush techniques are very intuitive and direct. The brush also changes color and circles around any object that the player can interact with, guiding players to interact with it. The camera can be freely rotated while the brush is out, allowing maximum control; this is also an attempt to guide players towards their surroundings, always reminding them to look around for interactions. Finally, time stops completely while the brush is out, helping players to take their time and plan out their brush strokes accordingly (this is also the reason why there are a lot of timing puzzles in this game- time stop allows this without much restriction). Easy controls have allowed not only more accessibility but also higher sales as well- motion sensor ports (PS move, Wii) were both very successful and still easy to control.

2) Introduction and Pacing

All celestial brush techniques were paced out very well. None of them ever felt artificial or one-time use only; all were useful equally throughout the game, even the very first ones like slash and restore. Introduction to these mechanics was also very well thought out. Acquisition of each brush technique tests the player’s current skills to reveal the constellation. Right after the acquisition, Issun presents a small challenge that can be solved using that technique (highlighted by the UI pointing out the “hold brush” button); Issun then follows up by some form of dialogue (sometimes with visuals) that hints the next usage of the brush technique, usually pointing to a place or an object that the player might have skipped past.

Though some may argue that this is too much “hand-holding”, I say that this is quite adequate for a game this long; all techniques are always accessible in the menu, and if the player fails the puzzle constantly, Issun sometimes pops up to remind the player about the technique. Memorable encounters like these implant the interaction in players’ minds, cementing the mechanic and moving beyond a simple mechanic introduction.

Dungeon and puzzle designs cement these techniques into the core of the game. Only one brush technique is restored per area, giving enough space for both the player to digest the information and the designer to play around the mechanic. There is always at least one enemy in each area/dungeon that requires the use of that specific brush technique or a combination of multiple techniques including the most recent one. This emphasizes the idea that brush techniques are not just for combat or just for puzzles, but for both.

Dungeon designs were actually quite reminiscent of platformer level designs from my experience. They strike all the marks: mechanic introduction, simple challenge, a twist on the mechanic, final challenge, and extras (many have compared the dungeon design to that of Wind Waker’s, but I haven’t played that game yet so I can’t tell).

This is where the criticism comes in: dungeon designs are often too direct. Though Issun’s hints are nice and well-paced, the linear nature of the puzzles and the dungeons make me feel like there is too much hand-holding- when there really isn’t. This point does come down to personal preference, but it does seem like a missed opportunity for a 3D game where the player can change the environment. 3D doesn’t just mean graphical improvements, it also means a whole another dimension; implementing design philosophies of a 2D game may be convenient, but it does have its limits when another dimension is added.

Let me go over a couple of nitpicks before I move on to music and art.

1. I personally loved the boss designs- they were so clearly inspired by Zelda (the “final challenge” is the boss fight, and Ocarina of Time basically made this a trend). They also followed Japanese mythology very well with a creative twist; Orochi, for instance, must be made drunk during the second phase before attacking; Kumiho has nine lives and is represented by its tails literally having a life of its own. Both follow the original mythology faithfully.

However, you fight the Orochi three times: once as the final boss of Act 1, once while Ammy travels to the past during Act 3, and once right before the final boss. Maybe fighting the exact same boss three times was a bit too excessive?

True Orochi. Ugh, already tired from seeing this image alone. Image from Google.

2. This tie in with my criticism of the final level. After having so much buildup of boarding the Ark of Yamato with the emotional goodbye with Issun, Ammy faces a boss rush of past bosses. This ruins the elevated mood before the final fight, dragging on that tension before the final climax. It’s so sad to see that Ark of Yamato is the weakest part of the game when the final boss fight with Yami is the game’s strongest, both design-wise and narratively. Also, I get that Ark of Yamato is supposed to be the final moment of the game; but setting up a boss rush and not allowing players to go back is a peculiar decision. Point of no return, in my opinion, should be placed before the boss battle, not the final dungeon. Look at a 3D Zelda game, for instance; Skyward Sword lets you do everything else before going on to fight off Demise. Why couldn’t they take that approach instead?

3. Finally, weapon acquisition. Getting the game’s first sword from Orochi is a genius move- very faithful to the source material. However, it seems a bit bizarre that the two final weapons, Yata no Kagami and Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi, are acquired through boss battles, while the final bead, Yasakani no Magatama, is bought from the store. Like come on, you can only buy it right before boarding the Ark, and the boss was an ice boss for God’s sake. Ice boss, ice weapon- ain’t it common sense?

(Music and art will be a bit shorter than this because I am not an expert in these fields. This is especially true for music; I will link extra articles in the end for additional reading on the topic.)

Okami’s music is a very unique blend of western music and traditional Japanese music. It was surprising for me that western and Japanese music blended together so well, given that the concept of western music entered Japan only around 200 years ago. Moodwise, I could easily trace the musical mood back to Zelda or other more western-influenced adventure games’ soundtracks. I noticed that in most cases, the backdrop of many of the tracks was played with western instruments: brass or string orchestra, sometimes both for extra dramatic effect.

However, the main melody was almost always by a Japanese instrument. For example, the “Shinshu Field” track’s main melody is played by a shinobue (traditional Japanese flute) while a string orchestra and some brass play in the background with Shinto bells (kagura suzu; not entirely sure though) and percussion tracks for highlight. More Japanese percussion and string instruments join in around the middle of the piece. Though shinobue is basically the only truly “Japanese” main element in the entire near-7 minute track, it combines very nicely with the rest of the piece to create a piece that has both the adventure element found in any Zelda overworld theme and uniquely Japanese. Shinshu Fields is not the only overworld in the entire game, not by a long shot; however, it is the first “large” area that the player gets to experience; most players will get in here by the first hour of gameplay. By setting this mood on the first overworld players get to experience, the music helps to establish the “adventure cred” upfront, thereby amplifying the expectation that the players will have throughout the rest of the game. Overworld themes also continue on smoothly from their “cursed” variant after Amaterasu purifies the area by restoring the guardian tree of each area; the sudden transition from a sad and almost “nostalgic” shinobue and string piece to a grandiose adventure theme is surprisingly smooth and well-fitting.

Even this track is stated as the most Western out of most of the tracks- lead composer Masami Ueda stated that Shinshuu Field is “rather Western-style”. Other more Japanese tracks still use Western musical techniques and generally follow a more Western approach in terms of composition. For example, leitmotif (I know, I can already imagine video game music YouTubers’ eyes rolling right now) for Amaterasu can be found in tracks like “Izanagi Cavern” and “The Sun Rises”.The instrumental motif is also present throughout; whenever the gods, the moon race, or the stars are mentioned, a soft jingle of bells (I don’t know the exact instrument) ring for a “starry” effect. Hichiriki is prominently used for shrines, priests, and the nobility- this fits nicely as it is one of the main instrument of the Gagaku, ancient imperial court music.

Finally, each instrument also serves to amplify the situation’s feelings; for instance, “The Emperor of Eternal Darkness” features very rough-sounding flutes that sound cold and almost mechanical, perfectly representative of the mechanical nature of Yami. Gagaku voice samples are used to highlight imminent danger, while percussion blasts in full during highlights.

I got most of the music info here from a blog post by Parker Chapin. Check their post out. Also, check out the English translations of the liner’s notes here.

In the liner’s notes attached in the official soundtrack album, lead composer Ueda stated that he “ignored anything theoretical” and rather focused on capturing the “feeling” of Japanese sound. He describes Okami as a “game of healing”; after all, Amaterasu is not out for a journey of violence and vengeance, but rather a crusade to heal and save Japan. This decision reflects the entire soundtrack and the mood that it creates- adventurous and grand, yet healing and uniquely Japanese at the same time. Completely ignoring theory and other complexities and going straight for the core- the healing aspect of Japanese music- contributed to the mood setup.

Art direction is also absolutely genius. The game was originally planned to be photorealistic (this is evidenced by the early tech demo in the “Extras” menu). After being stuck in a development hell, developers switched the artstyle to Ukiyo-e and Sumi-e inspired cartoon artstyle. The entire game looks like a gorgeous piece of watercolor artwork- one of the main reasons why this game is often titled a timeless classic. The rough black outlines of characters and buildings, the smooth pastel tones of colors, clearly defined color signatures for each character and mood… all of these contribute to this modern art masterpiece.

Waka, with his signature Tengu headgear and 6 inch geta heels. Image from Wikia.

Character design is also reflective of Japanese folklore and mythology. Amaterasu is covered in pure white and bright red, the main colors of Japan and incidentally the Japanese flag. As a wolf, long believed by the Japanese as the messenger of the gods, Amaterasu embodies godhood in her unique design. Issun, his namesake directly from the Issun-boshi (one-inch samurai) fairy tale, is also of the koro-pok-guru, a race of tiny humanoid creatures in Ainu culture. He is dressed in leaves, has a bug-head hat, and wields a needle as a “brush” (this part lifted straight from the folklore of Issun-boshi). Ushiwaka, his name from the ancient military general Minamoto no Yoshitsune, wears a Gatchaman-like helmet and a cap (hiding his blonde hair, the sign of the moon race) and wields a lightsaber. He is dressed like he is (high-heeled geta, large sword on his belt) because legend says that Yoshitsune learned his swordsmanship from a Tengu, a monster typically wearing high heels and dressed like a monk. Kushi has giant sake barrels on her hair, which looks like a comb because of the legend regarding the Orochi and Susano-o, who turned her into a comb to save her. Kaguya is straight from the Princess Kaguya legend; she has a fish bowl helmet and bamboo-leaves bunny ears to signify her moon origins, while her body is straight up a bamboo. Onigiri-sensei (whose name is a pun; a rice ball and a “demon-slayer”) turns his head around when he gets serious, like a toku hero or something. Urashima is actually an old man but looks like a child because he is from the Urashima-taro legend, about a boy who went to the Dragon Palace under the sea only to realize that hundreds of years have passed while he was there. Princess Fuse has eight dogs because she’s also from an epic novel from the Edo period about half-dog samurai warriors. Oki and Samickle are from Ae-oyna-kamuy legend of the Ainu tribe.

I can literally go on for days with this Wiki search about character motives, but you get the point: most (if not all) main characters from this game are influenced by Japanese legends and folklores, and their design reflects this, albeit in a comical sense.

During the final boss fight with Yami, Amaterasu loses all of her celestial brush techniques that she regained over the course of the battle. Suddenly, Issun’s voice begins to ring, and all the characters in the game being to voice their gratitude and surprise towards Amaterasu; Issun has finally realized his role as the celestial envoy. During this climax, Issun says this: “After all, the best thing about the great god Amaterasu is that happy-go-lucky spirit! Right, Ammy?”

**Cries** Issun…
Gameplay by xPinrose331x, captured from this video.

This phrase (and this entire sequence) stuck with me for quite a while. I think it is also the defining line of the entire game. Okami is a game not of bloody violence nor a hardcore, melancholic photorealistic documentary. It’s a god’s adventure, one of healing the cursed, protecting the weak, and purging the darkness with the sun’s light. It is Amaterasu’s grace and kindness that saves the day, not the vengeful spirit for the dead celestials. Through multiple aspects of design, including music, art, and gameplay, Okami creates a unique mood that, a uniquely Japanese, healing, and grand mood, that solidifies its place as a truly modern masterpiece. l

Daemon- Elevator Pitch

(Yeah I know this isn’t an elevator pitch length at all but all of this, including the GDD, is still heavily in WIP. I need some feedback so I can feel a bit more comfortable about my general direction.)

This is a version 2 of a “GDD” that I made months ago. In retrospect, that thing was more or less a fanfic with fancy label slapped on- I might modify that doc later to make it a character overview/lore bible but it lives on the internet now I suppose.

Working Title: Daemon

Genre Descriptor: Metroidvania/Action RPG/Fighting?

“Feels” Descriptor: heavily inspired by tokusatsu, especially 2nd era Heisei Kamen Rider series and early-mid 2000s Ultraman shows. Not too nitty-gritty or “gothic” but still touches upon some dark themes.

Players will explore the vast realm of the Underworld, a large open world area with different mini-dungeons.

They will have to manage between life and combat- collect information in the Overworld before heading down to fight off demons and making their power yours.

Game loop:

Explore Overworld -> Something happens in Overworld (trigger the quest) -> “Defeat” the demon (Send it back to the Underworld), deal with the vessel’s worries (quest complete, either through combat, narrative puzzles, or both)-> descend into the Underworld (find an entry point and get in the dungeon), find the demon’s lair (free roaming exploration)-> Defeat the demon, acquire its powers in a vial (complete the mini-dungeon)-> use the new vial powers to progress further in, both Overworld and Underworld (gated exploration)-> repeat

Transformation

You can transform into a demon superhero wielding a lightsaber that can change its shape to your will using the power of other demons. Transformation time and timing is heavily limited on Overworld; you will have to transform and always remain such in the Underworld.

Overworld Gameplay

Sidescrolling RPG. Bizarre incidents happen all the time in the city- track those down using different sources and conversations (with friends, villagers, even the internet).

Demons always require a vessel to come up to the Overworld- and they will attach to humans’ deepest and darkest insecurities to manipulate them and strike a deal. You must drive the demon out of possession by solving those anxieties and defeating the demon, driving it back to the Underworld.

Underworld Gameplay

Descend into the Underworld through one of many entrances in the Overworld (these unlock as you get more Vials to reach those entrance points). Underworld is a one giant connected maze, with very distinct sections spread throughout.

The Underworld is spearated into four large quadrants, each ruled by the elemental demon lords. Under them are the 17 demons of that elemental type. Though they reside in the same area, it doesn’t mean that players can (or should) progress to the next quadrant when they collect all the vials in a single quadrant- vial collection will be spread throughout the game, so players will have to backtrack and revisit familiar areas with new powers in order to collect vials. Demons preside in different location and reaching their lair will be a challenge on its own. (Think of Shrines in BotW) Each lair will be a mini challenge/dungeon, allowing players to either prove their strength in a hand-in-hand combat or their wit using the platforming and vial skills they have learned so far. When defeated, demons will grant players vials- a concentrated essence of their power, allowing players to use certain special abilities based on the qualities and abilities they represent.

Demon lords are rulers of each quadrant- and “sectional bosses” of the game. They are mandatory and must be defeated for the final boss battle. Their lair is secluded and can only be found by combining different vial powers- vials required to reach each demon lord will be presented in the main storyline. Demon lords grant elemental vials, more powerful types of vials that grant new transforming powers, allowing players to transform into different forms and play in different playstyles, weapons, special abilities, etc. Once all demon lords are defeated, the lair to the true Underworld will open up, allowing players to fight the final boss of the game.

Daily Thoughts: Coming back to Warframe- a newbie’s perspective

Okay, before I begin, I want to make one thing really clear: I really don’t like the idea of committing extremely hard into one thing and one thing only. I never commit thousands of hours to one game- to me, that seems like quite a waste when I could have enjoyed and completed other games countless times. Hence, it can be reasonably inferred that I am a newbie here (I’m still stuck on Jupiter). I’m not trying to diss any hardcore players here- it’s just my personal experience and opinion.

Because of this, the MMO genre in general never really attracted me- the entire genre is built on the premise that players will constantly spend their time and money into it, and that type of commitment is something that I can neither afford nor really give. For the same reason, loot shooters were also not my thing; I would try them out if they were up for free, sure, but I didn’t like the idea that I have to spend at least ~200 hours to fully experience the game.

Loot shooters, by my definition, are multiplayer online FPS/TPS games, usually with a sci-fi background, that includes class-based action, item-based experience progression, and experience-based story and content progression. They are geared towards co-op play; the story can or cannot be the main component of the game. They feel more like Diablo or Torchlight than other MMO games, and accurately translating this feel is essential to the whole experience. Examples include Destiny, Borderlands (to a certain extent, follows the typical FPS experience more in my opinion), and Warframe, the game in question.

I first found out about Warframe about 3 years ago on Steam. Their Steam catchphrase, “Ninjas play free”, summarize the feels of the game pretty well- space ninjas doing Cool Things^TM in Space^TM. Since I love mech animes and tokusatsu, I was hooked almost instantly. Its design was also radically different from other games of its genre: there was some beauty very hard to describe in those curvy, Gieger-esque “tin-suits”. Somehow, the uncanny valley suddenly felt very attractive. So I downloaded the game. “It’s free to play, after all, I can just quit and uninstall when I feel like it” was my thought process behind it.

After around 15 hours into it (and half the playtime spent on updates), I leveled my Excalibur to level 17 and quit the game. There were mainly three reasons:

1. Very unfriendly, absolutely no tutorials (besides walls of text) on key elements like mods and relics

2. Flashy action with smooth edges causes some 3D nausea (I usually don’t have a problem with these, but it became one when I played this game for more than 2 hours at a time)

3. Feeling useless in group missions; I really don’t have to do anything most of the time, so what’s the point?

Then months or years passed and I came back during the Plains of Eidolon update. Open world content was still very unfriendly, UI was still hard to absorb and also no tutorials on important mechanics, and even with my Twitch Prime gear, everything felt slow and clunky. I quit the game soon after.

(and if you are thinking that these aren’t valid criticism, I will go in-depth later).

And then I got Destiny 2 for free, tried that one out, quit, and just overall not interested in the genre anymore. Main reasons were that:

1. Skill gap often feels too great, and following the story content isn’t enough to enjoy the latest content the game has to offer.

2. Grinding often feels pointless when loots are completely random- plus, they often don’t aid me in enjoying new content, they just fill up the skill gap a little bit and that isn’t really enough.

3. All the designs, visuals, etc. are too common; I’ve seen this already and I know how this looks, feels, and ends (or, how it doesn’t)

Couple months fast forward, Tennocon 2019 hit and they announced that spaceship combat was coming soon. I figured that this time, something (please god anything) would be different.

And I was right.

Let’s get back to my three main criticisms and how DE dealt with them.

1. New user experience- overhaul in UI design helped me out here. I was still frustrated that tutorials were mostly just blocks of text, but at least now they were easier to read. Plus, objective markers on planet junctions now showed instructions on how to complete objectives to progress. Now my question of what the hell is a cephalon fragment was solved and I was actually able to progress further.

Renewed combat also helped out as well. Last time I visited Warframe was before the (widely hated) Melee 3.0 update, but the changed system for me felt more direct and easier to understand. I would also argue that taking a couple of seconds during combat to switch between melee only and ranged is against the ninja theme- they should always be prepared to quickly lunge a weapon, aren’t they?

I really do hope that they add some interactive tutorials on things like mods, fragments, relics, etc., but I think making everything easier to read and follow helped me out a lot.

2. 3D Nausea- Somehow, the game doesn’t feel much nauseating to me anymore. Maybe my eyes have changed, but combat, in general, feels a bit smoother and in control. Cameras now feel a lot more stable so I can clearly frame the action going on in the screen. Also, the map updates really helped me out here. Moving and parkour, in general, feel a lot smoother now because of map updates; better textures and models helped my eyes a bit while making maps more open and guided helped me see where I am going and alleviated the sense of completely losing track of everything, which did contribute a bit to my nausea.

3. Group experience- I still sometimes get the feeling that the level difference is too high and I’m not doing anything. However, I definitely sensed that I am getting matched with more similarly-skilled players when I opt-in for a group, My prime gears helped me to close the skill gap a bit, and those two in combination helped me to gain the sense that I am actually doing something.

Finally, let’s compare how Warframe is faring compared to my criticisms of Destiny and the whole loot shooter genre in general.

1. Skill gap- unlike Destiny, Warframe’s story content matches the experience and skill progression nicely; by the time I reach important story quests like ‘the Second Dream’, I am skilled enough and I have the items good enough to enjoy the content in level footing with everyone else, whereas in Destiny, the story content is too short and doesn’t really match with the whole experience of the game.

2. Grinding- More explanation can be given, but Warframe does give the location of each material in its description page. So even if loot collection is random, I know at least where I am supposed to go loot things. Narrowing down the focus helps me regain a sense of direction in the game.

3. Design- Warframe’s design philosophy is very unique; its emphasis on curves, a mix of organic and inorganic, and the emphasis on uncanny valley effects all contribute to a unique taste that is very hard to find in other SF games.

I am still quite critical about the genre in general and still quite much about Warframe; but I think it’s safe to say that developers constantly keeping their vision and constantly applying it to the game while constantly improving the whole experience is its main reason for its massive success while others are losing their player base to Warframe.

I will get back once I played enough to judge the experience holistically.

Daily Thoughts: Auto Battlers

Edit: Added few bits here and there, deleted the life update bit now that’s outdated. Working on a more polished version of this

Okay, it’s time to talk about auto battlers. They have been on the rise lately with the continued popularity of DOTA AUTO CHESS and with the release of subsequent… genre titles…. ehem. You know, stuff like Dota Underlords, Teamfight Tactics, and Drodo’s own Auto Chess. Market is slowly becoming more and more saturated, and none of the more popular titles haven’t really touched up on the original Auto Chess formula.

You may ask, “What is the original Auto Chess formula?”. Well, here we go.

Auto battler is a subgenre of turn-based strategy game where the player purchases units of increasing strength with random occurances to fight other players in a free-for-all format. Unlike the similar “deck-builder” strategy games (see: Clash Royale), auto battlers focuse mainly on strategically building decks on-the-go, with special stat boosts added and a unit leveling system that focuses more on strategy rather than good units or player interaction.

Here are some common features of this genre:

8 players fight off in a free-for-all format. Last one standing wins.
- In a ranked format, top 4 are the ones who are awarded at the end.
Players are given gold and some preparation time before every round. Players can then buy units with that gold or buy experience.
- Gold is given passively or when the player wins/loses as a bonus.
- Passive gold is a set amount but may increase with win/loss streaks, interest, or other systems.
- Units are dispensed randomly into a group of 5-6 at a time in a “shop”; players can spend gold to “reroll”, or swap out the current group and replace it with a new one.
- Experience is gained passively or can be bought with gold (usually a set price, costlier than most units and rerolling price). Enough experience levels up the player, allowing them to put more units on the board and allowing player to get higher cost units from the shop more easily.
Units can be either “benched” or placed on a chessboard-like game field; once the preparation time is up, they will fight on their own against enemy units.
- Unit placement matters, as each unit behaves differently on the board.
- Units can “level up”, gaining stats or even new abilities. 3 of the same units grant one upgraded unit, to a max level of 3.
- Units have different costs, often in 5 different tiers (usually there is a 1-to-1 relationship between tier and cost). Higher the tier, the more expensive, impactful, and rarer the unit. Leveling up a 3, 4, 5, or higher tier unit is much harder than leveling up a 1 or 2 tier unit.
- Units belong in certain subspecies; different units of the same subspecies grant synergies, a substantial stat boost that often guides the way players place and buy units.
  - Synergies may be unique to a certain unit or a small group of units. Synergy bonuses may be extended to an amount that is unachievable with only the units in that subspecies.
Every couple of rounds, players will encounter an NPC round where they fight off non-player enemy units.
- These grant not only experience and gold when slain, they also grant items that can be equipped by allied units. Items grant passive stat boosts.
- Items can be benched as well.
- Items may also be combined by placing certain items together in one hero; they may grant even greater stat boosts or possibly additional capabilities that may change the course of the game significantly.
- Equipping an item is permanent, though selling off that unit will give back the item.

As you may see, strategy and randomness are the two guiding factors of this formula; player skill is largely focused on having good luck and knowing their item compositions/unit synergies, more so than mechanical skill or reflexes, traits that are commonly valued in traditional RTSs or MOBAs (a genre that this game mode originally came from- Auto Chess is based off a MOD of StarCraft, or so I heard. Please correct me if I’m wrong). However, unlike common deckbuilding games or trading card games, like Hearthstone or Clash Royale (or even Clash of Clans, which is actually a lot more similar in that players determine the placing of the units and units fight automatically), decks are built on-the-go and improved on-the-go, and only the units that are on the board are used, which also differentiates it from Arena/limited format games of TCGs. Randomness is involved, but the chances of better units are improved over the course of the game, unlike others where randomness predetermines the units from the very beginning.

It can be hence said that auto battlers maximize variance (where randomness gives the player a set of tools to work with and its up to the player to decide how to use them- the player is in control of the results) for strategy and uncertainty (where the player does not know the outcome because it’s random; commonly called “RNG”, the player is not in control of the results) during combat.

More and more games are starting to add new features (gimmicks) to the original format; Teamfight Tactics where certain items grant additional origins for better synergies and a random drafting system of items and champions that gives losing players a chance to pick up better champions before others, potentially setting up for a comeback. Dota Underlords has different obstacles that the player can strategically place for covers or other benefits during combat.

I am very curious as to what other changes devs can bring to this formula- right now I can think of the combination of this with the battle royale format, where 50-100 players gather in a (possibly) double-elim or other out system shorter than the traditional 100 HP system. This forces the unit selection and board size to shrink up, which is a nice constraint to have that can bring up some new idea to the board, literally.

Also, I saw this Tweet:

https://twitter.com/nexidava_/status/1145603950080454656

So I came up with some ideas for a Pokemon auto chess.

First off, basics: gold = pokeballs, unit levels = evolve. Duh.
Synergies are represented by types. Pokemon with two types at once have a primary type and a secondary type; secondary types may enjoy synergy bonuses but may not contribute to the unit cap required by that synergy.
- For example, let’s say that flying type enjoys +30% attack speed for 3 units/+50% attack speed for 6 units (only for flying type pokemon). Charizard (I know boring example, hear me out though), who has a fire primary type/flying secondary type, enjoys 30% increased AS when there are other primary flying type pokemon on the board but does not contribute to the units required. So, when there are 5 primary flying type pokemon and a Charizard, they all enjoy 30% AS, not 50%. Synergies have weaknesses, just like the original game; let me change the rules here a bit as well, and make that:
  - Weaknesses only affect abilities- there are no damage multipliers for auto attacks. Secondary types don’t count towards weaknesses (Charizard doesn’t get x4 damage by a rock type). damage multipliers are x1.6 instead of the traditional x2. Ignore all other factors that affect damage multiplication. All pokemon will use abilities that are the same type as their primary type, so no damage multiplier for using the same type ability. All units with the same name are the exact same- no random stat distribution for each unit.
Bending the rules a bit, all units have a basic attack; basic attacks charge up PPs, which can be used to cast abilities. Abilities differ by each pokemon; they gain better abilities as they evolve. For instance, a Charmander may use ember as their ability; a Charizard may use Flamethrower instead.
Low-cost units evolve twice and will be common throughout the game. Mid-tier units evolve once or don’t evolve and will be rareer. High tier units will (mostly) be legendary pokemon and do not evolve.
Megastones evolve the pokemon beyond its final evolution state. They have the following properties:
- Stat boost will be proportional for the “4th evolved” version of the pokemon. Their abilities will also significantly improve to a Z-skill (sorry for the mix and match, I need more time), a one-per-type ability. So a mega-evolved Charizard and Turtonator use the same ability, Inferno Overdrive, even though Turtonator uses Shell Trap for its ability.

Side note: As you may have noticed, not all pokemon from the pool will have actual mega-evolutions in the actual game. Let’s just say that they… just exist? Maybe a golden glow-up for non-megas and a model change for pokemon who have actual megas available.
- If pokemon have a secondary type, this is elevated to a second primary type. Certain pokemon will also gain an additional secondary.
- Mega Charizard X, for instance (not that I’m adding X and Y vairants, just X is the default. I’m sorry Y fans), will have fire and flying primary and dragon secondary.
Mega evolutions last for 5 battles before becoming deactivated. There can be only one mega-evolved pokemon on the field at one time.
Megastones are obtained randomly by defeating non-player enemies or keeping a winning/losing streak (randomness still involved there). They can also be combined through items (this is a quick concept, I don’t have time to get into items)

Daily Thoughts- Quick Jot Down

Well, still busy. After about a month or so of almost no activity, I figured that giving some form of an update might be helpful. I’ll be really busy until the beginning of June because of finals, but I have thought up of some ideas and I need somewhere better to put them down than… Sticky Notes.

Top down shooters that you don’t shoot the enemy

Whilst working on Laser Defender, I began exploring concepts and further elaborations that I can do on the template project so I can somewhat pass this as a portfolio material. I personally never played the game, but I thought that Luftrausers delivers on its premise of WWII dogfighting by not focusing on the action of shooting but rather actively dodging bullets from a different perspective. Why are top-down shooters called shooters anyways when in most shooters (especially so for bullet hells) are focused much more on avoiding enemy bullets? If it’s unnecessary, eliminate it.

Environmental RTS

I need to do a CAS project for next year- for non IB students, this means that I have to do some long-term project (preferably with a partner) with some significance, either activity-wise, service-wise, or creativity-wise. For me, it’s a perfect opportunity to flex some game development muscles.

When I was young, I played a small RTS game online called EcoFriendz (website is now dead, RIP). For every level, there was a challenge to complete- presented in the form of development quotas (increase in population, factories, housing, etc.) I had to manage resources by protecting trees from illegal loggers and managing my resources so the CO₂ levels don’t go beyond the set quota. The main goal was to plant trees and build sustainable factories and homes to meet quotas sustainably. This was a UN sponsored project back in 2011.

I found my inspiration- I want to rebuild this game with a different, more strategy-oriented design. It will mainly involve around sustainable resource management and development; meeting certain growth quotas while also being sustainable will still be the main goal of the game.

JoJo tag fighter

I know, licensed content will 100% headcanon, but there are only 3 JoJo fighting games and two aren’t even that great as fighting games.

JoJo is an IP born for fighting game adaptation, not some silly battle royale. Not all stands are created for battle, but that’s the point of using a tag/partner system- so stands unfit for direct combat can still participate.

Pokken Tournament had an interesting approach with switching between perspectives and using partner/tags, but perspective change felt largely like a gimmick and tags were largely like an item.

Main goals for this as a character game would be:

Plenty of nod to the source material- special interactions, the idea of a “dream team” delivered through partnership, team-up attacks, etc; mostly cosmetic
Fairness in play. As DIO once said, there is no absolute hierarchy in stands; this is where partner system comes in, as they can function to compliment weaknesses and make unfair fights more manageable when it seems unfair only looking at stats.
Use of special powers/stands- similar to Heritage for the Future, I want to implement a system where stand attacks would only appear at the last burst of a combo attack or only after filling up a gauge/low in HP. Seems a bit cliché, but I mean, it works, there’s no doubt in that.

Daemon

Thought about this for a long while now. Couple of things:

I still don’t know about the story side. I kind of want to approach it from a metafiction perspective but not sure how to execute it with a fresh take.
Control scheme- I personally think that the control scheme for fighting games like Smash would work better than the typical Metroidvania format- directional attacks, guards and dodges, special attacks (with or without direction I’m not sure)- are all elements that I really want for this project. Not so sure how this will work out in a Metroidvania setting but I think it’s not a horrible fit.
Action and combos- go big on the tokusatsu concept- maybe do a combo number system like Bayonetta while also combining mana/skill point system with the combo system (heavier attacks spend a lot of combo points but cannot generate a lot on themselves; flashier attacks earn higher scores and can also prepare for heavier attacks; system interference to prevent players from spamming heavy/special attacks by placing a timer). Details later.

Review: When the Darkness comes -Why Experiences Matter-

A word of caution if I may before I begin: For these types of games, it’s really hard to accurately translate the “feels” to words; “experience simulations” are one of the most personal interpretations of interactive media, and as such, they impact people in varying degrees, more so than some of the “traditional” experiences. Rational judgement is a bit hard in this case, but I will try my best to extract knowledge out of it and make my argument.

I’ll try not to spoil the entire experience but it’s kind of inevitable. I’ll try.

Lastly: CW: depression, suicidal ideation, anxiety, social stress, etc.

Part 1: Introduction

The first place that I encountered this game was a bit different from the ordinary. I follow a lot of Rioters, and Mr. Kevin “Sirhaian” Leroy was one of them. His indie VFX work on Star Guardian Gragas and PROJECT: Karthus impressed me (ArtStation here) and that’s when (I think) I pressed the follow button.

Many weeks pass, and I see something interesting in my timeline: he released a free game on Steam. I never knew that he was a developer (well, beyond an amazing VFX artist) before that point, so I was a bit surprised. My immediate, automated response to this was, of course, was to go to Steam and put it in my catalogue, download it, set the category as “Backlog”, and… tell myself “I’m a bit busy now. Let’s revisit this when I have time.”

Then classic immature, 16-year-old high-schooler Eric moment hit me and I forgot about it for a month or so until the last day of spring break. There were other factors, of course: I was busy finishing up my Unity tutorial and playing Apex Legends and League (I am terribly embarrassed. I should cut this habit soon and start clearing out my backlog before it’s too late).

(*Let’s actually introduce the game to the audience, shall we?*) Ahem.

Part 2: The Game- Technical Stuff

When the Darkness Comes is a short indie game developed by Kevin Leroy. The game is relatively short (it took me around an hour to complete the entire thing) but has a ton of replayability in it. Developed on Unity, it features standard controls, amazing VFX, a… debatable narrator experience, and some other notable design decisions.

Darkness is a type of a game that is best labeled as an “interactive experience” though it is hard to clearly define its genre; it’s somewhere between a walking simulator, interactive fiction, puzzle adventure, narrative game, and a visual novel. Player goes through a series of dark, mysterious, labyrinth experiences of the developer Leroy’s state of mind. The player goes through the Leroy’s experiences through life, examining his mental experiences as a game developer, as an artist, as an adult human trying to have his ends meet, as a student struggling through school, as a helpless romantic, etc. Players go through his mental state and his memories, putting themselves in his shoes and trying to understand his position within himself and in life.

Since these types of games deserve more of a literary analysis and critique than standard game design analysis, I will try to make my critique of the physical experience short. Controls feel a bit slide-y and, combined with the narrow POV and overall dark color scheme of the game, made be nauseous after the first 45 minutes of it; I had to take a break to 20 minutes or so during the middle before I could continue because some parts of it were making me physically ill.

VFX was, of course, amazing, as the dev is mainly a VFX artist (or at least that’s the impression that I’m getting from his ArtStation). I noticed some very clever use of perspective, lighting, and contrast throughout the experience. It wasn’t polished as much, sure, but it was really good and it did get the message through (discussed later).

Lot of the Steam reviews for this game pointed out that the narrator was sub-par and how, for many of them, the “bad” narration impacted the experience negatively. From a purely objective point of view, yes, it does lack polish compared to, say, The Stanley Parable. But remember that this is a short side project by a single dev, and it would be a faulty comparison to compared it with the production scale of an entire indie team. Also, I think that the subpar narration actually adds to the experience (more on that later).

Environment design was not too bad for a scale like this. As I pointed out about VFX, there were some very good uses of contrast and perspective throughout the game, and those really stood out when it came to environment and map design. Some of the sections did, however, were a bit frustrating to play (like the final zigzag/jump section where you only have a single source of light to guide your path in pitch black; more on this later) and many of the sections were quite labyrinthine and caused some motion sickness. At least subtitles are there, so that’s a start. Colorblind options can definitely be there but it would be kind of hard to implement in a game where darkness is such a vital part of the experience.

Also, a quick shout-out to Julie Maxwell (link to the iTunes page of the piece used in-game), the artist who did the piano piece for this game. Her (I’m assuming here correct me if I’m wrong) performance, I think, really added a whole new layer of depth to the game and was significant in the narrative, which was a really nice touch when it came to some of the important moments.

Part 3: The Game- Actual Criticism

Now here’s the real criticism of the game. I will try my best to give the best explanation of the things that I felt while playing this game and not make it a 500-word blabber but words are hard. I’m sorry, your friendly second language learner just can’t express his words into letters that well.

Unlike some of the “experience” type games that I’ve tried before, this game stood out to me because I felt a direct connection between me and the developer. Some other games where the narrator is an integral part of the story (say, The Stanley Parable) felt like I was being challenged, tested or provoked almost, by the game itself. Those games felt more or less like Undertale where meta knowledge about the game (as in like the title itself: spoilers, story, background settings, etc.) and meta knowledge about the game (as in like a medium to tell a story and the conventions that go with it) directly affected how the game treated me. Interaction and emotional connection existed between me and the game (and its story), but everything was, more or less, an illusion of an emotional bond between the medium and the audience. A sort of connection that you feel when you identify strongly with a character in a book or a movie. A guided experience where the element of interaction existed simply as a medium to get a message across, to think not only within the shoes of an invisible entity called player in-game, but also as… well, yourself playing the game. In those experiences, I felt like the game was talking directly to me, as a person who was playing the game, talking to me to think about the impact within the constructed world of gameplay how my interaction affects things.

But note that those experiences only consist of a very small group out of the bunch that I want to talk about in this post. Games that our proud community of Internet has labeled Not Games^TM still exist (such as Gone Home, What Remains of Edith Finch, Depression Quest, Dear Esther… list goes on). I haven’t referenced these games because I think of them as an extension to the visual novel genre, where the layer of player interaction only exists as a medium to tell a set story. We will come back to this later.

This experience, however, was different. I felt like the game was not only the extension of the developer himself but also the developer and his inner state of mind. There was a complex communication of some sort going on in my mind between myself as a human being, myself as a player of this game in the shoes of someone else, the game itself as a medium and a set story, and the developer himself and his internal state of mind. It felt like Stanley Parable but also not like it because the dev/narrator was in control of the experience and the player (I) could go against that control, but also that control was merely an illusion and I was actually experiencing a direct communication between me and the dev. For the first time, I viewed the developer and the game as one and equal (somewhat of a natural conclusion for a one-person dev game), and sort of a complex dynamic took place between us.

The central message of this game, however, shattered that communication. The main getaway of this game is that it is your interpretation of the experience that matters and nothing else. “The game means nothing”. The game, and hence the creator of the game, is trying to actively deny looking for a deeper meaning in the text. A very strong death of the author feels here, but I don’t think this is the real intention of the dev. When I bring context back into play, I sense that the death of the author-esque feeling is an illusion, a subconscious denial almost, of the developer. There is something very clear and deep within this experience, yet the game denies me such opportunities while the author subconsciously desires such analysis. This is the moment when the author-text dynamic breaks and I realize that the author and the body of work are both separate and equal at the same time.

Darkness is an interactive, visual translation of the developer’s inner state of mind, and that translation tells us, the audience, not to extract meaning out of the experience because whatever we felt during the experience is the only takeaway that actually matters. True meaning of the experience shows, however, when I break away from the fundamental assumption that I made while judging this game, given its context: developer equals his body of work. I realized that in order to judge this game properly I must view the relationship between the author and their body of work not as a binary, but rather as a superposition, a state where the author maybe and maybe not be equal to their body of work at the same time. So the deeper meaning of this game is not nothing as the game tells you to believe, but rather the combination between the dev’s personal experiences, his emotions and mentality, and the player’s takeaway from that experience, which is a translated one from the author’s internal state of mind, plus the player’s own emotions that they identified with during the experience and after it.

If this sounds like bloaty, edgy gibberish to you, it’s because it is. But hear me out. I identified with this game so strongly because I was in his position and I still am. I struggled through some hard depression moments and I still struggle because of my crippling anxiety every day. I felt the moments that the dev illustrates in the game: I felt like people were lying to me all the time and all of them secretly think bad of me, I was terrified of even the slightest notion of criticism because I thought that it involved personal emotions, and I was on and off caring about how I walk, gesture, pose, and dress in public because I always felt like people were talking about me. I am getting better through meds and therapy, but it’s still a long way. Some of the moments in this game really hit me hard because I totally identified with those experiences, and when I did, the interpretation was not analysis of the text, but rather total empathy and full, human emotional connection, an emotion that I’ve never felt in any work of art. Teachers often use the phrase “poetry/novel/whatever speaks to you”. We all know that it’s a figurative language, but this phrase captured the essence of my experience with this game: it spoke to me. This is why Darkness felt so fresh and different to me when I finished it: even the game’s denial of meaning was a form of self-denial that I’ve experienced. Maybe I’m a bit biased, as not everyone may think like me and identify so deeply with this experience, and I totally agree with that interpretation. But as person who had to go through this experience, I feel like the game was giving not only an invitation to the author’s point of view and inside his mind but also a genuine conversation between a friend and a sympathizer, and that in itself was genuinely touching to me.

Part 4: Some Nitpicks

Before I move on to the final part of the game, let’s take a breather of some minor criticisms that I had while playing.

Content warnings in the beginning were really nice, but the text was kind of hard to read because of the… sort of gradation/shadow effect of black shades on the text. The important text are boldened, but I don’t feel like that’s enough; the entire text should be crystal clear to read, especially in the case of these important warnings. I think it would be better if the font sizes were a bit bigger and the text was completely white and clear so that it’s perfectly legible, no matter what; for content/trigger warnings, legibility and clarity must come first before aesthetic preference.
File installation was a clever touch and it somewhat did help my experience in a good way. It also felt quite fresh too, as most games with a feature like this usually hide their files in the installation folder, not smack right in front of the desktop. I did see some reviews, however, that this is not the smartest decision to make. I do agree on this. Yes, fully enjoying the original experience is quite important but that cannot come at the cost of real-world threats: accessibility and security. I think it would have been much better if the player could opt in to get their files either installed or sent through email or other methods; I know that time and resources were severely limited, but this approach of single consent yes-or-no was not the cleanest of the possible approaches to this.
As I mentioned before (or did…I?), some sections of the game were a bit frustrating. I fell off almost 15 times during the section where I had to navigate through a zigzag road only relying on a direction of bright light coming from the sides and a section where I had to jump between blocks the exact same way. It was very important to the overall experience, absolutely, but the frustration that I felt while playing those sections eventually masked the emotions and the main takeaways that I felt from playing those sections. I started to feel like less of playing an emotional experience and more of playing an annoying platformer. I don’t have specific recommendations on better execution but… it didn’t feel smooth. I get the context and all but I don’t think that the dev wanted the audience to snap back into the feeling that they are playing a game.
- Also, during the jumping block section, whenever I respawn, I spawn on top of the first block platform and presumably because of collision I bounce up as soon as I spawn. Since jump inputs are ignored while I’m in air, I missed many jump timings because of this.

Part 5: Counterargument Against Some of the Criticism on Steam Reviews

I feel like some of the criticism for this game was quite valid, like how the message felt quite hamfisted and how it “tried too hard to get the player to interpret their own meaning and insert their own feelings into the story”. I partially agree, though:

1) I feel like the impression of pretentiousness and “put yourself in my shoes” was a part of the experience. It is obvious that “this game has no purpose” is not true, but the denial itself is an emotion that people often face. Maybe the experience does feel a bit pretentious, but I argue that that is the authentic anxiety experience: everything feels pretentious and everything feels like nothing at all.

2) Context matters, always. This wasn’t a full-scale production but rather a side project of a developer who already has a stable day job. I am definitely biased here since not a lot of people are aware of the full context, but when it comes to this, I feel like people jumped to the conclusion a bit too quickly.

3) Maybe it’s just me, but I think that the awkward, obvious “this has no meaning” and “make your emotions the only getaway” are what makes the experience actually special. The obviousness of the whole thing actually enriched the experience.

4) I do agree that jumpscares were a bit disturbing, but with clear content warnings, this was a commitment made by the player. This is a bit subjective but I don’t think the horror element was that protruding.

Conclusion

I think I wrote down most of what I wanted to say about this. It’s a bit hard to understand, but take a read if you are so inclined.

And Sirhaian, if you are reading this, thank you so much for sharing your experience with me. It has meant a lot to me. Also, I very much admire your work as an artist and a developer. I’ll be eagerly waiting for your next release, whenever it may be.