Review of 2015

This year, I saw a radical change in the types of people who play games. It occurred to me, that pretty much everyone is playing games in some form. And of the people who are not - they should. The escapism created by games released this year, seemed to bridge a gap to so many facets of gaming; that there was something for everyone. It is truly astonishing that a game like the brilliant Her Story; could not only survive and be accepted to the gaming community but also receive several Game of the Year nominations from game outlets, including Polygon; in which it won. For the first time this year, I went to a Games Convention. And without pointing fingers or names, I realized that this in fact was not for me. Not because I wasn’t interested in anything that was on show but the excitement from the show came from discussing with other developers, as opposed to playing their games. When those developers seem few and far between; I felt a little out of place. The show itself changed my outlook on games; based on what types of games I would make in future and instead of thinking “oh this would be a cool idea”; design my games specifically for a target audience (Which I am in fact now doing on my next release). This in turn lead me to realize that I should never attend such an event without bringing a game of my own. On the topic of Target Audience and everyone playing games; this year, despite my mum having been playing games for literally years in some form (Solitare etc.); I finally noticed she was in fact addicted to games. She was always playing games throughout the year; often combining them with other tasks; such as watching TV or reading a book. And although she would disagree, I would argue she plays more games than me. And I played a lot of games this year. No, my mum did not play Bloodborne but she probably played hundreds of versions of Bust-A-Move.

In years gone by when I think of AAA Games that have come out; I tend to only think about Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty games which are out every year. This year it seemed like most of the releases in AAA hit an incredibly high standard of Gameplay and polish. Many of them either throwing out fresh ideas and others revamping their already existing franchises. By making most aspects of the Game Design process feeling iterated and refined to create the best experiences. Games like Dying Light, Bloodborne, The Phantom Pain, The Witcher and Fallout 4, all delivered exceptional experiences for the majority of their content. Slightly worrying is that all of these games seem to have a large open world to explore, and I would argue that only Bloodborne had exceptional crafted Level Design, but no matter; as in each of these games the core Gameplay was incomparable. Which leads me on to my list for my top 10 games, in no order:

• Bloodborne – Master crafted in every sense of the word. The only bad point was that despite three plays clocking at nearly 100 hours and achieving the platinum trophy; I wish there was more of it. Thankfully, the Old Hunters was released which I shall jump on just as soon as other games are cleared out the way.
• Downwell – I’d been following this game for a while, but I was quite surprised how effective the game it delivered its blend of rogue and shoot ‘em up Gameplay. I’ve only played it on PC but it is easily one of the most addictive games of the year and I shall be getting it for Android as soon as its released.  
• Fallout 4 – I feel like the excitement of Fallout quickly died out. I was a little thankful of this because I wanted Fallout to be of the more solitary experience that it tries to deliver. I was underwhelmed by the story but the moments I remember from Fallout 3 are just amplified in Fallout 4; raiding supermarkets and underground bunkers for loot. Fallout 4 also painted some incredible imagery for me personally which last long in my mind ahead of many other games this year.
• Her Story – I couldn’t believe how much this game sucked me in. The game only lasts around 2 – 3 hours but it had its hooks me in me from start to finish. Twice I stopped playing only to immediately return and keep going when I thought of a new keyword. The Non-Linear Narrative is truly something special that many games developers (and indeed people from any media related industry) should experience at least once.
• MGS V: The Phantom Pain – Despite my disappointment with the game; it’s hard to argue that the immediate Gameplay is not completely stellar. Two games this year for me had near perfect controls and technical game elements (camera etc.); one was Bloodborne, the other was The Phantom Pain.
• OlliOlli 2 – Addictive and fluid Gameplay, matched with catchy tunes makes for everything that Skateboarding game you didn’t know you wanted, excellent. This was one of the few games I played on my Vita, as well as on my PS4 and the experience didn’t diminish on the handheld. This was a game that I felt I was designing when I wasn’t playing it, as I tried to formulate combos and manoeuvres, whilst working etc.
• Rocket League – After having time to sit on it, 6 months later, I’m still playing Rocket League. Its arguably my game of the year, sitting equally on top with Bloodborne. My already endless love expanded when I began to learn how to anticipate the ball dropping and start creating lots of chances for my teammates, as opposed to simply trying to score. The fact it’s so simple; makes it easily one of the most remarkable games of 2015.
• Splatoon – I’m not much of an online shooter fan. I’m not much of a painter. I don’t know anything about squids. But Splatoon has all of that and it’s pretty great. I struggled with placing either Splatoon or Mario Maker on this list. But I think the fact that Splatoon feels so fresh and unique, whilst continuously fun; means it’s obviously very special. More of this Nintendo, please!
• The Talos Principle – 3d puzzle games always sound tedious and repetitive in my head. Maybe it’s the potential of having to design one. But Portal is one of (if not) my favourite games of all time; so I should love them. Turns out I do because The Talos Principle is as mind-bendingly iterative as a game can get; and it’s great. The fact that the only real base player interaction is to pick up and place an object, shows you how genius simplicity can be.
• Witcher 3 + DLC  - This game shows how narrative decisions need not be so black and white. To continuously create morally grey area questions, which ask the player to decide which is the lesser of two evils, is excellent and far more inviting than most "alignment" quests in other RPGs. Creating this world must have been so much fun, as it clearly has a lot of love poured into it. Hearts of Stone is one of the finest expansions I’ve played and actually enhanced the game for me.

The Evil Within and the Importance of Game Association

During the summer of 2015, I revisited a few games that; having been released in the previous year, had eluded me for whatever reason. The Evil Within was one such game.

I'm quite aware of the games that get released and I know how well theyve been received. So I knew that (at least through major outlets), The Evil Within had a mixed response from Gamers. Some loved it, some not so much. In a time where I had little money, it probably wasnt a wise investment for me to gamble my money on something that I might not enjoy (I'm usually quite good at knowing what I enjoy). So I didn't buy it. Thankfully, a year later, The Evil Within is great. I actually found it extremely intense to play, like to headache inducing, but in a good way. It's definitely reminiscent of Resident Evil 4; one of my favourite games of all time, but focused more on survival horror. Ammo and Health packs were scarce, enemies took plenty of damage and the environment seemed far more cramped; creating a claustrophobic experience.

During my time with The Evil Within, I was preparing for my Driving Test. This as you can imagine, was a particularly stressful time, where The Evil Within was possibly not the best choice for calming my nerves.  I managed to beat the game a few days prior to my test. This however, managed to come at an ill-opportune time as I was also waiting for the release of the Phantom Pain, which was the same day as my test. As I waited, this left me without anything to take my mind from the impending test, causing the pressure to build similarly to the intense pressure of The Evil Within.

On the eve of my test (and the Phantom Pain, of course), I could hear my brother playing some music whilst he worked. The song was “Clair De Lune” a classical piano piece performed by French composer, Claude Debussy. Whilst, this slow and soft piece of music played, I began to relax and my headache went away. Where had I heard this music before? Well it was not but a few days earlier whilst playing The Evil Within.

During the Evil Within, the intense pressure and threat of imminent death around every corner made me particularly careful. That pressure built greatly on my mental strength, as I couldn’t bear the thought of having start an area again. Throughout the game, this piece of music “Clair De Lune” would be met with a sudden burst of excitement and rush, quickly met by a deep calmness. The music would emit from save rooms as inside these rooms you could save, as well as unlock additional resources and purchase upgrades. More important than any of these, was that it was also a safe room; where enemies literally couldn’t get to you. This bought valuable time to reassess and invigorate mental wellbeing, before getting back into the nightmare. Sure enough, I kept expecting one of these rooms to turn into a trap where a boss would come and smash me into pieces. You’ll be thankful to learn, this never happens; partly due to it not making sense story-wise but also Gameplay-wise.

Something I had never completely considered when designing games was Game Association. I have of course, some experience with this – Allies being Blue and Enemies being Red. But to associate a song with something so prominent in the game as being safe; something which in most games is a menu where the player presses Save or Buy; it changes a player’s outlook on the scenario at hand; particularly in a survival horror setting. For example, whenever (and I mean whenever) I would hear “Clair De Lune” playing, I would immediately run to the door, and couldn't wait to be greeted by the creepy nurse (who even being creepy is not at all creepy compared to everything outside). This often meant I would bypass resources and potentially enemies just to create my next “checkpoint”. This process of Gameplay was exceptionally powerful for me as the player. I believe it’s because this kind of feedback is most often triggered by player interaction, and not by me hearing the music from a couple of corridors over. I didn’t have to run to the door, but as a logical next step; it made sense for me to do so in order to feel as though I was making progress, whatever the outcome as soon as I left the room would be. These save rooms also allowed me to test out areas knowing I would die, just to see the traps and enemies that were lurking beyond; this ultimately calmed my nerves more so.

So in future, I will incorporate as much Game Association into whatever games I decide to make. And yes, by the way, I passed my Driving Test.