If you listen to people talk about games in the way I do, you've probably heard the term "elegant" or something similar used to describe an indie game before. I've heard it for everything from Super Meat Boy to Fez to Cave Story, and every generally well-reviewed game in between. And while I wouldn't consider all of those games fitting of that description, I understand what the word means in such a context. But what does it mean if somebody calls an indie game "elegant"? I mean, they're all simple games, right? What makes the difference between something "elegant" and something just plain? Well, I'd like to take a quick look at a couple games to demonstrate what this means, and when it is and isn't applicable.
Let's start with my favorite game of 2015: Downwell. A simple indie platformer where you play as a guy with guns on his boots as he descends through a well. Simple enough, but the intricacy of the design is so tight that it plays like a dream. Every minute detail of how the game controls was fine-tuned for the best experience possible, and it shows. Movement is tight, but not jumpy. Jumps go just high enough that you can clear platforming challenges with enough skill, but not too high that you can just go back up the well. You fall fast, but the gunboots can slow you down if you need to react quick.
This doesn't just apply to the control itself. It's a small game, but the amount of thought per piece of content is off the charts. The enemy sprites themselves show you how you can deal with them, with white being where you can stomp on them for a one hit kill, and red being areas that will hurt you upon impact. If an enemy is entirely red on the outside, they will have to be shot at to be killed. Each weapon has its advantages and disadvantages, but sometimes you'll have to swallow that pill to pick up the included ammo or health. Same goes for the upgrades, although choosing your gift or poison is mandatory at the end of every level.
This doesn't just apply to the control itself. It's a small game, but the amount of thought per piece of content is off the charts. The enemy sprites themselves show you how you can deal with them, with white being where you can stomp on them for a one hit kill, and red being areas that will hurt you upon impact. If an enemy is entirely red on the outside, they will have to be shot at to be killed. Each weapon has its advantages and disadvantages, but sometimes you'll have to swallow that pill to pick up the included ammo or health. Same goes for the upgrades, although choosing your gift or poison is mandatory at the end of every level.
Every single element has purpose, and a sort of depth. Every element is fine tuned to work in an exact fashion. They all work together, along with the spritework and music, to create a flawless experience. When I first saw the trailer, which by the way is just some gameplay cuts, I immediately knew I had to buy Downwell. And so far, it's beaten every massive budget AAA game, one man zero-budget indie project, and everything in between throughout my year. Not every indie game is like this, though, and in the sea that's flooded the market recently, for every one of these you find, there are 99 games just not worth your time. One of which, the worst game I've played all year, is Squirreltopia.
Now, the reason I picked this up was because of the developers themselves. They seemed like generous people, giving out free keys for the game on r/pcmasterrace, and while I missed out on that deal, I decided to pick it up anyways, since it was cheap enough and I already had some Steam wallet money lying around. It looked a little charming, with a squirrel motif, even showing random facts about squirrels in the menu. I was prepared for it to be mediocre, but how bad it was blew me away. I mean, it's also a 2D platformer with simple mechanics, right? What could make it so much worse?
You know how I was talking about thought per design element? Well, in Squirreltopia, it is the lowest I've seen in ages. You jump over spiked balls because they're spiked balls. You bounce on springs because they're springs. The physics in the game were clearly put in with no second thought or extra testing. The jumping is so low that every gap is a painful one, even if it's minuscule. The character slides around as if every level was one of those Pokemon ice floor puzzles. Even some elements that do have that little bit of creativity aren't saved, as the music lasting through entire worlds overstays its welcome as the soundtrack is insufferably annoying, and the bubble platforming is frustrating due to how heavy the squirrels are.
You know how I was talking about thought per design element? Well, in Squirreltopia, it is the lowest I've seen in ages. You jump over spiked balls because they're spiked balls. You bounce on springs because they're springs. The physics in the game were clearly put in with no second thought or extra testing. The jumping is so low that every gap is a painful one, even if it's minuscule. The character slides around as if every level was one of those Pokemon ice floor puzzles. Even some elements that do have that little bit of creativity aren't saved, as the music lasting through entire worlds overstays its welcome as the soundtrack is insufferably annoying, and the bubble platforming is frustrating due to how heavy the squirrels are.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
So what does this mean? Well, from the perspective of a player, games putting more thought into mechanics are almost guaranteed to be better. Video games are fun because of psychology, which indeed is a science, meaning that to some extent, gauging how certain mechanics affect the overall playing experience plays a lot of importance. This makes the difference between that one game that's really fun and that other one that's just... not your thing for some reason. On the design side, this means that how much time you spend tweaking and extending on your core mechanics and ideas can make the difference between the game of the year and an absolute trainwreck. Hopefully more aspiring designers will make things like Downwell rather than something more like Squirreltopia.
Thank you for all of you sticking with me throughout 2015. S.S. Amino has had its ups and downs, the original launch in particular sticking out as probably one of the worst mistakes I've ever made. But it's been a lot of fun, and I hope for 2016 to be even better. I've got so much I've been working on that I can't talk about yet, but for now, I'll be doing uploads every single Friday once again. Happy New Year to every single one of you, this is your captain, signing off.
Thank you for all of you sticking with me throughout 2015. S.S. Amino has had its ups and downs, the original launch in particular sticking out as probably one of the worst mistakes I've ever made. But it's been a lot of fun, and I hope for 2016 to be even better. I've got so much I've been working on that I can't talk about yet, but for now, I'll be doing uploads every single Friday once again. Happy New Year to every single one of you, this is your captain, signing off.