Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: ID:chuappgame, author: Fuyun

The so-called "walking simulator" (Walking Simulator), at first some kind of joke, according to not serious research, probably officially originated from the "Dear Esther" game, in 2012. The straightforward title revealed the implicit skepticism of players at that time-should there be a more clear and varied core way of playing a game? They think that not only should there be, but in expectation, it is best to go to heaven and earth and show their magical powers, instead of being bound by their hands and feet, they can only walk around and see the scenery.

Except for some open-minded people, for the mainstream, a "game" has nothing to do but walk, which seems to be naturally incomplete, or even a kind of deception, as if it is an experimental performance art. No fierce battle, no challenges full of change, no equipment and growth, can it still be a game?

Dear Esther, a strange game with only scenery and literary appreciation, to this day, no matter in terms of the status of game design history or market performance, many works developed by the side branch of walking simulator have proved that their own school should have an eye-catching place. The once heated debate on "what is a game" has long been a thing of the past, but in fact, today, this topic has a perspective worth digging into. Under the premise that the walking simulation has been established, looking back at the past, it will be easier for people to objectively and calmly examine the background of this type, and will enable us to reach a more advanced understanding of the development of game media at present and in the future. with a broader vision and a more inclusive attitude.

Shouldn't there be a core way to play the game? We are not used to asking questions about things we are familiar with but do not know. Lu Xun said, "this has always been the case, right?" If every creator regularly examines his own views on content creation, he will certainly find many new perspectives to explore.

The reason why pure walking simulation can also be established is that it excavates another kind of demand of players for an interactive media. As a "half-life" Mod, when Dear Esther strips off fighting, solving puzzles, pushing boxes, looking for exits, and when players can no longer run, crouch, jump, and manage blood and ammunition resources, his continued curiosity and exuberant attention always have a home (players always look forward to content before they become players, they just don't know what form the game will take). The slow rhythm of the game, the literary narration, the quiet piano music, and the natural scenery which can deeply polish the composition because of the fixed route have become the carrier of the content. By stripping out interactivity and game challenges, players have to focus on these, focus on the environment and details, and then do find that as long as they put their heart into it, they can get another level of information density from the hand-polished game process, deep enough and the pleasure that comes with it.

Who can say to play the famous "P.T." when not focused, not "happy"? We can find this fact-- the essence of the game as a medium is to transmit information, but the way of expression is never fixed, and players of course always hope for higher information or content density to be stimulated, but sometimes it is achieved through complex operability and high interaction frequency. Sometimes different kinds of flow responses can be obtained through pure audio-visual design, the emphasis of special atmosphere, the thinking of narrative blank, the literary power of the text and the play with specific restrictions.

We all know this and often sigh for it. The cognitive ability of human beings, that is, the ability to receive information is so complex, broad, varied and inclusive, showing a fascinating diversity-people like guns and swords, as well as walking, contemplation, instinct and violence. They also worship harmony and poetry. The interesting bipolarity of the world always shows itself inadvertently, just like the tonality of the game-the gentle "Dear Esther" and the thrilling "half-life" come from the same engine, each producing more offspring. Today, players are familiar with a series of walking-based games such as "Fire Man", "memory of Edie Finch", "P.T." and "the return of Oberadin". Their birth shows that a game can be designed for any reason and meet different entertainment needs. How the game is created and presented, in fact, does not follow any inevitable criteria, and it is never in the declaration of opinion leaders and the hasty conclusion of pedants. The debate about "what the game must do" is long gone, but who can say that today, at this moment, the possibility of the game is not limited by other rigid discussions, habitual thinking and narrow imagination?

As for those day-to-day game fundamentalist debates, such as whether the depth of the core rules is the only criterion for judging the pros and cons of all games, whether games with low frequency of interaction and can not be "played" are still called games, whether the picture is important or the method of play is important, the part is important or the whole is important, whether there is a real phenomenon or the concept of framing everything first. These and other issues, when a new form of movement develops and renews itself, and affects reality with richer vitality, all disputes divorced from nature are fragile and become more and more tiresome.

Sometimes there are rules that are more absurd than no rules, isn't it? we want to analyze a thing thoroughly so that we can draw analogies.

A game such as walking simulator appears on the market and has been verified by the market, which does not just open up a subtype, it can cause designers of any type of game to rethink their inherent ideas. A considerable number of people will see the progress of a type of game simply as a process from small to big, from less to more-- more complex systems, broader (open) maps and levels, a stronger worldview and a variety of plot tasks. this has led to the emergence of today's so-called "3A games". But on the other hand, it can also be seen in many game products that designers' ambition and lack of control ability lead to design imbalance and top-heavy, and even lead to game difficulty due to chaotic distribution of energy. This kind of mentality is common among novice creators. If they pursue a big and comprehensive idea, they may get the focus wrong and eventually forget what they want to express and what the core experience is to create. This is a risk brought by "additive design thinking". When the creator keeps adding the code, he may forget to ask himself whether it makes sense every time, even if it's cool, what kind of relationship it has with the game as a whole. whether there is an audience of "unparalleled in the three Kingdoms" who want to fish in the Central Plains.

Cao Mengde fishing, on the contrary, games such as walking simulators are born out of some kind of subtraction design thinking, and designers keep only the most meaningful part through layers of examination of their own creative motivations. the presentation of the content is "strong and broken wrists"-asking a creator to cut down his carefully crafted content is in most cases more challenging and determined than letting him add content. But the treasure has always belonged to the brave, through the pursuit of simplicity and self-examination, so that the creative process has the possibility to identify false things, retain the real things, the focus of the game will become clearer. The producer can make it more clear that what he retains is what the work really needs, and plan closely around the core experience and theme of the game.

Redundancy has always been unpopular and abominable, and every honest designer knows this-- and this kind of reflective thinking in design is not limited to the production of games of the type of walking simulator. almost all game products of a certain size can be "separated" by subtraction thinking to reverse verify the legitimacy of the design, and players can focus on the really important issues in the game process. Instead of being biased intentionally or unintentionally, the fragmented operation of most mobile games is almost the natural enemy of this kind of thinking.

Of course, there are many walking simulation games in the production of a variety of restrictions, personnel, funds, development tools and other factors, developers can only use walking simulation this simple way to carry out their own creative expression. Dear Esther itself is an example of an experimental project led by university professors that was initially more crude than when it was redeveloped and commercially released. But that doesn't mean developers don't have to make a choice. They still have limited space to decide the size of the work, what kind of story to tell, and what mood and style to present to the reader, just like on the limited FC platform, you can still work in different styles.

On the basis of subtraction, it is not difficult to find that works such as "watching the Fire Man" and "the return of Oberadin" are deeply polished by adding one or two core systems to the single basis of "Walk". Achieve unexpected simplicity and elegance, full of creativity and complete experience. In 2019, the Steam platform released a game called "Eastshade". Players just chat with the aborigines on an overhead fantasy land, help, solve the problems in their lives, and sketch for the scenery everywhere, feeling the customs and customs, and the experience is very quiet and beautiful.

It is said that the design of the game was inspired by the reflection of the producers when they visited the "Ancient Scrolls" series: can they not grow up and fight, dungeons and treasures, but just extract the freshness of seeing the new world for the first time-in the process of adventure, each time you come to a village, feel the little things and mysterious customs of strange races. Players step by step into the different world carefully designed by the producer, living in another time and space, feeling a different smell of fireworks, which is charming enough. Digging deep into the experience has become a separate new game, and nearly 4000 reviews on Steam are the best praise for this bold exploration.

In the world of "Oriental Yin", the inspiration of "poetic dwelling" creation and ingenious ideas is always a priori, but ideas are often formed a posteriori. When the types of games are getting richer and the players' game experience is increasing day by day, when we look back at these works full of exploration spirit, our game concept will imperceptibly and spontaneously update.

The "new" game learns the game mechanism, then uses the rules to solve problems, and then constantly deepens the understanding of the game mechanism and solves bigger problems. This is a core pleasure shared by many traditional games-constantly progressing and cycling in learning and challenges. This has always been regarded as a source of fun closest to the nature of the game. However, a class of games derived from walking simulation obviously do not strictly follow this view, and what attracts players is not the construction of some complex, deep and well-knit logical mechanism, but something else.

Looking back at the word "fun", you can see a thing or two. We never require previous entertainment media to provide a single kind of interest. Movies can provide emotions from a variety of angles, such as joy, shock, sadness and even fear, and we all regard them as part of the fun. I don't know why many people are so harsh about games and hostile to certain innovations. When designers are also trying to convey many different types of interesting experiences with games, they can tap the potential of the game more widely if they are not overly logical or whether they are complex and deep enough. The change of this concept liberates the designers, who use the blending of game mechanism, audio-visual and narrative to prove that games can have a variety of different levels of entertainment effects on people, and have a scientific basis.

In a neurological study known to many people, scientists have proposed the discovery of "endorphins" and "dopamine" and their related principles-there are many kinds of chemicals that affect people's emotional feelings. Dopamine corresponds to a momentary heartbeat, and dopamine is secreted in the brain when we experience something new, exciting, or challenging. Under the action of dopamine, we feel the happiness of love. Endorphins, on the other hand, have a longer-lasting effect. "the effect of endorphins is similar to that of a sedative. It reduces anxiety and gives people a sense of comfort, warmth, intimacy and calmness."

Some time before interested friends could search for relevant knowledge, I accidentally picked up VR and experienced "The Lab", an experimental work that V Society once used to explore VR interaction. There is a special part of the game, which only transmits players to a panoramic scenic area, mountains, caves, or the streets of Florence, where you can simply use a handle to interact with each other and switch positions between several landing points. The game is better than nothing, and the rest is to look around the scenery that you have already placed in, which can be said to be a "penalty station simulator". But wearing the head to show, across thousands of miles, standing in a "stunning scenery" in front of the scenic area, is not a special experience. If it is not an experimental game, the designer may not dare to really let the player just stand, there is no trigger event, nothing can be done.

Although the content of the game is just a demonstration of technology, it is also reminiscent of the rain walk game "Pluviophile" on Steam, which is nothing more than shuttling through the rainy woods, listening to some fragmented narration, and then comes to an abrupt end. A game that is so tricky and even lazy and cobbled together using resource stores has many audiences of its own.

These minority works, in addition to no complex mechanism, sometimes the narrative is abandoned, just to build some kind of virtual but vivid audio-visual space, which gives people a sense of the spiritual atmosphere of the "architect" left in the map and model. When players need a certain amount of emptying, rather than seeking fierce challenges or complex intellectual activities, this kind of game also has its indispensable value.

Part of the "lab": standing at the top of the snow-capped mountain for 5 minutes! The types of games are quietly spreading, constantly developing and innovating. Today's designers are no longer limited to any iron rule and rest on their laurels, and players have become more open. The meaning of the concept of "game" is constantly expanding, and sometimes it can not even include all the game works in a broad sense. Maybe one day, people will call all these unexpected works as "interactive media". They provide a multi-dimensional experience-just like there can be news, movies, short videos, documentaries and other postures in video media at the same time. What about games as a kind of media?

For the creator, the history he has just experienced is just repeating one thing-there is no a priori right or wrong, only a posteriori brave, self-knowledge and self-confidence is the soul of creation and design, do not hesitate on self-doubt because of being different, and should continue to forge ahead and explore, no code should be the cornerstone of creation-except for the unique self.

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