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AG Theme Of The Week #10 - Realism

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I’ve always thought that designing an adventure game to feel real is one of the toughest tasks I can imagine. The game media has always stood for virtual and interactive representation of real life. Thus, we have seen it all: car chases, world war reimaginations, spaceship simulators and what not. Technology has gone far, so now it’s kind of easy to make a believable simulation. But when it comes to our beloved genre it feels like we are stuck back in the 80s. You have the story of the game and your imagination to help you think you are the person you control. But the invisible walls of the game design and the limited number of actions put you in a narrow and predictable path.

Following these thoughts, I went to the conclusion that a really real adventure game still doesn’t exist. But in the same time, a good amount of certain games came to my mind that did manage to reach a level of realism in one aspect or another. Or an illusion of realism, if I have to be more specific.

So, for this week’s theme I chose to focus some attention on certain aspects of adventure gameplay that comes close to this abstract realism. The topic is broad, so instead of just listing some games, I’m dividing my post into several aspects of a game design. I’d love to hear what you think about them, since I might have missed some games that really hit the spot I’m looking for.

1. Graphics

I’ll be really short here because that’s not the focus of my thread. Since the emerge of graphic adventure games, the visuals had become a vital and irreplaceable part of a game. And most importantly: the first thing that grabs your attention. The choice of a realistic graphic style seems like the normal thing to do, assuming that someone wants to tell a story that doesn’t involve fantasy/surrealism or just wants to outline the connection with real life locations/people. We all know that’s not true, because a game can feel real no matter how it looks like. Yet, giving your game a realistic outlook is an option for boosting up the player’s sense of exploring a living and breathing world.

Here’s a screenshot from The Vanishing Of Ethan Carter, a game that:  didn’t give me much freedom in my actions; involved a fantasy storyline; was pretty linear despite its open world. So in the end, it didn’t feel quite real. But it was so nice to look at Smile 

2. Freedom

Now, here’s the place where a game can take on the challenge to give you a realistic ride. The feeling that you can do anything or go anywhere in a game is a nice illusion of freedom. The idea of open-world or sandbox games have been around for quite a while, serving other genres perfectly. But when you have to build a strong and focused storyline of an adventure game, this task puts you in the risk of losing your pace and flow. There’s a good amount of pretty open AG’s that give you enough space “to choose your own path”, such as the much quoted three-island world of MI2 and countless other examples (especially in the pre-2000s era). But so far I’ve never seen a pure sand-box adventure game. Many rpgs, action games, hybrids have adventure elements at their core and an open world feels right in place, when you have to do some roleplaying/driving/shooting, along with puzzlesolving your way through the story. So my opinion is that the sandbox approach just doesn’t apply to adventure games. It leads to pixel/voxel hunting, lots of backtracking, dilution of the story and other mistakes if not done properly. At the same time games like Fallout 1,2 and Planescape Torment (which can be played as pure adventure games) benefit from their openness in such a way that I’m never bored to explore every bit of their world and return to the same places over and over again. So I’m more than eager to be proven wrong.

Here’s a screenshot of the map of Dropsy. That surely was one open game (especially when you count the day/night cycle). But frankly, I began to feel lost after a while.

     
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3. Interaction

This subject is pretty connected to the previous one. At first, I was going to talk about it as part of the freedom of the player. But freedom is a pretty wide and subjective word, so my focus here will be towards immersion, instead of possibilities. Back in the days, text adventures used to give you the immersion that you can do all kinds of interactions with the world surrounding you. So many words. So many choices. Gameplay-wise these interactions were distilled to 9 verbs/a few icons/a single click. This gave us a more polished and smooth gameplay but moved adventure games (especially the p’n'c) away from the immersion of real life.

Along with the introduction of 3d exploration in adventure gaming, game designers started to look back in this direction. It felt much more realistic to actually make Tex Murphy look below a desk for a hidden note than to just click with your mouse at the word “look at”. Exploration grew to a whole new level, with an actual three-dimensional space in front of you to inhabit, instead of browsing through a set of screens that give you the illusion of space.

As a fan of arcade games, Tim Schafer designed Grim Fandango’s controls so that the player can feel he’s part of the game and not just pointing the direction of his puppet-avatar. Technically, not the best execution we’ve seen. But I like the idea that controls can shorten the gap between the player and the game. Experienced players in fighting games regard the controls as extensions of their mind and hands. They tend to think in terms of those controls and regard them not as boundaries, but as possibilities. As a huge p’n'c fan I was really surprised to find out that I loved some adventures where I was in charge of controlling my character, even when we talk about 2d games such as The Cat Lady. 

On the other side of the coin, David Cage really grasped the idea of focusing on lots of interactions (and emotions) and let the player perform everyday mundane tasks such as making a coffee, taking a shower, going to the toilet and other stuff that had little to do with the gameplay. Somebody here stated that an adventure game, copying a normal day of our lives, would be the most boring game ever. So it’s a thin balance that’s needs to be maintained, especially if a classic adventure game model is considered.

Here’s a shot of AG’s most wanted: Grim Fandango. Not the most interactive game, as I said, and also famous for its clumsiness. But I second Tim’s bald idea of replacing point’n'click mechanics such as the verb “look at” with the actual looking of Manny’s head toward something interesting.

4. Consequences

If there is something I regard as potentially realistic in gaming, it would be actions followed by consequences. The number of options you have in a certain situation has little to zero sense if the outcome is always the same. That’s one more point for the RPG team, where AI and complex systems that calculate every move of yours are involved. The concept of consequences intersects very much with the linearity/non-linearity theme of the week. One the one hand, you have pretty straight-forward adventure games whose primary objective is to tell you a nice story and tease your brains a bit. And it doesn’t matter if you are going to make fun of that guard in front of your prison cell or you’re gonna be nice to him. On the other hand, you have the moral choices/branching storyline type of gameplay, so popular in the modern AG age. Which is either not branching at all or leaves you with unsatisfying plot holes and unbelievable alternate endings. No need to repeat every argument that have been said so I’m just going to end this matter with my personal conclusion.

I think that games like The Pandora Directive nail this contradiction as close to perfection as one can get. The game mechanics evaluates every action of yours but they don’t constantly remind you that a certain action is important or not. Thus, you have the feeling that you play a straight-forward game and at the same time you sense that what you say and do matters. Especially when you meet the consequences of your actions after a while.

Blade Runner is often quoted as another good example. But since we have a whole theme about it I won’t focus on it. The Last Express is the other game that comes to mind, but I have yet to play it.

     
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5. Puzzle Design

All the arguments said so far could be applied to any kind of interactive fiction. So in a way I was referring to the game industry as a whole. But when we’re talking about traditional adventure games it’s hard to leave out their major gameplay element: the puzzles. Naturally, they are some of the things that quite often break the immersion of realism. You have a virtual real-life situation, a believable main character and the ability to explore the place in every angle possible. And then a puzzle mini-game emerges. That usually kills it for me. Puzzles are fun on their own but they can easily put you off the story if there is one. Especially if you are investigating murders and spend a fifth of your playthrough wandering what ingredients to put in the damned cookies.

I thinks that’s one of the reasons which moved story focused games such as the TellTale titles further away from puzzles. But as we’re talking traditional, I admire games whose puzzles are designed to fit the story they are telling. This task becomes even tougher for modern adventure games which have to be more creative in order to avoid repeating older ones. 

There are many relevant titles that comes to mind but the one I always like to quote is Full Throttle. I can understand why there’s a huge amount of people that dislike it. Its story revolves around gang bikers, not your widest target of people to reach. But just like Darren Aronofsky’s choice of making a movie (a decent one, in fact) about wrestlers, I respect the bald decision to make a game about something different and unique (plus I hate hard rock and heavy metal). Putting an adventure game in a fantasy/sci-fi/murder mystery/wacky cartoon world is a predictable and well-beaten track. Choosing such a different theme for an AG required a different type of main character and a different approach of puzzles. Ben could easily be the same comic wanna-be biker that we’re used to, with tons of red herrings and what not in his pockets. But this wouldn’t serve the game’s story and overall tone. Instead, we have a tough, silent character set in a hostile surrounding, who relies not only on his wits but on his strength as well. And this is applied in the core of the puzzle design. He kicks through locked doors, takes stuff by force instead of trying to “pretty please” people with random fetch quests and tries to fix his broken bike without monkey wrenches.

Another interesting approach in realistic puzzle design is the concept of multiple solutions (which have also been discussed in the linearity theme). I’ve seen that people are often scared of games offering multiple puzzle solutions, just like games offering multiple endings. And the reason is obvious: too much risk of ending up with clumsy and unbalanced design. Games like Resonance (whose puzzles are also very well integrated into the story) manage multiple solutions in a mild and elegant way: giving you a slight alternative from time to time without branching off the story (like giving you the option to bypass the tough wiring puzzle). On the other hand, if a traditional adventure game wants to be realistic in terms of cause&consequences; (imagine the Voodoo Lady not talking to you if you had the option to insult her) it should have a pretty darn good and flexible puzzle design in order to avoid dead ends, plot holes and other unwanted consequences.

Finally, I want to mention that certain games try to focus on a specific style of puzzle solving. There’s little realism besides those puzzles but when it comes to solving them, they really nail the process. The best (and maybe the only) example I can think of are the investigation/detective type of adventure games. There are titles which implement the idea of deductive reasoning so well that you actually feel like the detective yourself. I admit that I haven’t played any of the Sherlock Holmes games (so I’m eager to hear some good examples) but gameplay elements, such as the notebook interrogation and clue comparison in Discworld Noir, really put me right in the character’s shoes.

Other good examples (which I also haven’t played) are Her Story and Papers, Please. I can’t be really relevant here, but the idea of putting the player in charge of a very specific task sounds to me like a good premise for realism.

 

     
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6. Atmosphere

Games, just like any other art in the world, are not the sum of their components. That’s why I have lots of troubles when defending the games I regard as masterpieces. Many of them have their down sides in terms of technical execution or gameplay mechanics. But what stands out is the overall impression that a game gives. And it either clicks in you or it don’t. This matter is so subjective that sometimes developers themselves can’t realize how their game reflects on the players.

Building the right atmosphere of a game is the chaos element that gives soul to all its lifeless elements. It’s the magic that lets you dive into the game world and care about its characters. No matter if we talk about historical, fantasy or abstract games, realism is a prominent part of the atmosphere. It’s what makes you believe in the game’s reality. A tiny bit of difference in the graphics/writing/animation/vo/gameplay/ui can destroy the whole immersion. So naturally that’s what differs the good games from the masterpieces, imo.

Intentionally, I’ll ignore all those gorgeous cinematic examples that comes to my mind and I’ll put Gabriel Knight: Sins Of The Fathers on the table. It’s a game I played just a few years ago so I won’t have the nostalgia effect messing with my senses. As an almost 25-year-old game, it surely looks outdated with its low resolution, funny interface and disturbing narrator. But somehow I managed to sink completely into this blocky miniature of New Orleans and relive the storyline as my own. From little details such as reading the newspaper in the morning and having a small talk with your assistant to actually thrill moments (so difficult to be achieved in AG) such as the near-death experience with the falling snake. That really took me by surprise, especially when all I did before was having walks in the park and relaxing conversations with my grandma. The game had lots of good qualities (such as good writing, challenging puzzles,  great comic noir art, non-linearity) but what really stood out for me was its atmosphere and tension. Nowadays, when I play a game and catch myself wanting to breeze through the puzzles/dialogue lines/levels I realize that it’s just the game failing to suck you in it.

7. Physics

Physics have already been a part of some adventure games, especially the puzzle oriented ones. Games like Portal showed a good and innovative way of puzzle design. I left this paragraph for the end of my post because I wanted to focus on fields in the adventure gaming that are yet to be explored. The presence of VR in modern gaming gives game developers the opportunity to give players a new level of realism. I don’t have much experience in VR gaming. Only tried it a couple of times and I wasn’t particularly amazed.  Frankly, I don’t regard it as a potentially evolving technology. But I can see how it offers possibilities for a new type of puzzle design which involves the physics of objects and the use of your own hands. I’ll be happy if someone can throw in some personal experience in that field. Here’s a shot of Wilson’s Heart which, of course, I’ve never played Smile

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I guess that’s all from me. Sorry about the length of the post. I started with the idea of a much shorter thread, but got carried away. Anyways, I’ll be happy if you can join with opinions and examples of adventure games that involve realism in any way (i’m particularly interested in AG’s that feature sandbox world, C&C, branching storylines, multiple solutions).

     
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Game fitting all the criteria above is Toriko/Lunacy(segasaturn) imo
However for me realism is more close Heavyrain
Most of the puzzles in AGs are borderline unrealistic for real world

     
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Chances are i’m not going to own Sega Saturn in the near future, but thanks for sharing. I’ll definitely check some gameplay footage.

     
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Nice theme.
You have Gone Home that manages to achieve a very realistic world. Of course to do it it uses a few tricks like the sandbox world is pretty small - a house - there are no other characters to talk, and the puzzles are minimal but involve just investigation to figure things out.
In the end realism might be a good goal until a certain point, the moment it gets in the way of gameplay or the story it might have to take a seat in the back.

     
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badlemon - 25 July 2017 05:46 AM

Chances are i’m not going to own Sega Saturn in the near future, but thanks for sharing. I’ll definitely check some gameplay footage.

Its a fmv game where you can make decisions by talking to some NPCs
Period of time and place varies the story structure
It has surreal setting but obeys all its logic
Environments Graphics and VA still holds up, some CG character modelling dont hold well
Amazing music and atmosphere
Puzzles are there and can also vary story and endings

I played it on PC/SS emulator, ran fine

     
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The Carol Reed series has to be the most realistic game I’ve played. Not just out of adventure games, but all genres of game.

     
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Never tried the Carol Reed series. I’ll check them out, thanks.

     
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wilco - 25 July 2017 08:17 AM

Nice theme.
You have Gone Home that manages to achieve a very realistic world. Of course to do it it uses a few tricks like the sandbox world is pretty small - a house - there are no other characters to talk, and the puzzles are minimal but involve just investigation to figure things out.
In the end realism might be a good goal until a certain point, the moment it gets in the way of gameplay or the story it might have to take a seat in the back.

This was the first game that popped into my head when I read the start of the OP.

Very nicely put together theme, badlemon!  Though I’m never sure how much of these things to read for fear of spoilers. Tongue

     
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I wondered when we will see the first photorealistic game in real time. It can be done in Google Street View (sorta) so could be done in adventure games.

     
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I’ve rarely had trouble suspending my disbelief when playing a game, so realism has never been a big issue for me.  First person games, such as Riven and Riddle of the Sphinx, are still among the most realistic games for me, even with their slide show navigation.  RealMyst, with its 3D movement, is probably the most realistic environment, despite the fact that it’s a fantasy world filled with puzzles.  I felt like I was there, and can remember my panic when I accidently made the lights go out in the compass room inside the ship.  If the story engages me, I’m there.

     

Carpe chocolate.

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badlemon - 24 July 2017 05:43 AM

6. Atmosphere
I’ll put Gabriel Knight: Sins Of The Fathers on the table. It’s a game I played just a few years ago so I won’t have the nostalgia effect messing with my senses. As an almost 25-year-old game, it surely looks outdated with its low resolution, funny interface and disturbing narrator. But somehow I managed to sink completely into this blocky miniature of New Orleans and relive the storyline as my own.

This is probably the essence of it for me too.

I was amazed that one of the most immersive experiences I’ve had, had graphics one could barely make out, no voice acting but superb music.  I would have passed up on The Last Door given those factors had it not had such rave reviews.

     
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dumbeur - 27 July 2017 08:10 AM

Very nicely put together theme, badlemon!  Though I’m never sure how much of these things to read for fear of spoilers. Tongue

Thanks. Don’t worry about spoilers. GK’s snake example is the only thing that comes anywhere closer to that but I don’t regard it as such.

cyfoyjvx - 27 July 2017 10:30 AM

I wondered when we will see the first photorealistic game in real time. It can be done in Google Street View (sorta) so could be done in adventure games.

If AR becomes a bigger thing in the future (and I think it has better chances than VR) I’m expecting AR games that blend into reality via glasses/lenses or some kind of high-tech retina.

     
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One pet peeve of mine when it comes to puzzle immersion is how unrealistic some of the solutions are. For example in broken sword 2 that I just replayed, there is one part where you need a red ball to knock off a marker and the red ball is in the possession of a cat. The puzzle involves getting it from the cat somehow. But you are on an island, with access to an unlimited supply of rocks, so why can’t I just pick up one of the million pebbles lying around and use it instead of using that one red ball. As adventure gamers, we have been trained to think of getting the ball, but it really is not a realistic solution to the problem.

Another aspect is dialogue. Some games have the characters repeat the same lines of dialogue like parrots. Other characters do not find your behavior strange as you are snooping around like a loiterer. One game that seems interesting in how its characters interact is the new Far Cry 5. It is weird to talk about realistic character behavior in an FPS game, but they seem to have a neat system for character AI. Characters react realistically to what’s around them. For example, a truck full of the bad guys passes by and the AI character will look at them and remark something, and it is all procedural.

One final thought. Realism, whether it be realistic AI, engaging graphics, open world, etc… costs A LOT of money and our genre is a very niche genre, so I do not see that ever happening in the near future.

     

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