2 posts tagged “bumpy trot”

Justin and I were discussing Bumpy Trot earlier today, and I told him the game was somewhat open-ended. His response; "Open-ended is the new Linear."

The moment passed with much LOLing, but the concept was more true than perhaps he intended. Open-ended IS the new Linear, or rather the new definition of the same thing.

As video games have gotten "bigger, " (more worlds and bigger, larger levels, third dimension, in addition to the expanding scope of stories and morality) a trend in plotlines has opened up; the questions of right and wrong, good and evil or; "What should my character do here?" While games from the early days were riggedly stuck in their rut of "do this, then this, then this," explorations of creating true story and character arcs have expanded from "Choose which character to play" to "choose what this character will do." Look to KOTOR's Light Side/Dark Side or Fable's Good and Evil Deeds for a more rigid example of this gameplay style.

Bumpy Trot is a good example of the new version of Open-Ended gameplay. Players are no longer forced down one set path in the game, but can idle away the hours doing meaningless tasks which define the character to the player. When taking part in the actual linear storyline, players can choose how their character reacts to the other characters in the game, given many options ranging from nonsensical to caring to flirtatious to downright mean. By doing so, the main character evolves into either the Hero OR the Villain of the game, and the plot assumes this role. The main weakness of a lot of these games is exactly that linear plotline, which in turn must loosely explain why Bad Guy ended up on X-Planet to do Y-Thing, while Good Guy ended up in the same exact scenario for completely different reasons.

My character in Bumpy Trot is named Vanilla. At the onset of the game I was asked questions about my character, such as "If you found $20 in the street, what would you do with it?" Though I have since found proof that the character is just named Vanilla no matter how you answer the questions, my girlfriend Mia swears that I was named Vanilla because my answers were so boring (I, incidentally, would take the money to a lost and found). As the game goes on, I find myself making the simple or Good Guy choices in all matters. I used to think that I did this for fear of someone else watching, or seeing my character profile. In fact, the opposite holds true; when Mia is in the room while I play, I choose "Pinch her butt" over "tell her she's a good person" just so Mia will think I'm not such a wuss. Meanwhile, the other characters must be entirely confused by my schizophrenic behavior ...

In the end, I choose those options which most reflect not only what I would choose in real life, but what kind of character I want mine to be. I want him to win the nice girl, Connie, and to win her by being nice himself, and caring, and helpful, and lavishing her with thoughtful gifts. Not by lying, or cheating, and all the while double-timing her with Savory, the town slut. I want Vanilla to be an all around good guy in this world, so I play him as such.

But I think the bigger issue that we often lose sight of is not about how we play our character in any given world. In Bumpy Trot (Steambot Chronicles), we're given a set amount of choices in a world fully created. The designers certainly let us choose how we act to some degree, but the setting is completely controlled. Characters do not react or judge Vanilla for walking into their house during dinner, or picking up their favorite tree and throwing it into traffic, or standing in the middle of the busiest intersection all day just to stop everyone from moving. The plot points, though numerous, are still set inside of limits as to which actions will be judged. Exanded further, the world of Bumpy Trot is defined by who developed it, and to what end they wanted to present their world.

Were Vanilla a bad guy, he would still only be the type of bad guy who steals bubble gum machines from fat school children, not the kind who wages a genocidal war against members of an ethnic group or religion. When Vanilla destroys another character's Trotmobile, that character is very deliberately and cartoonishly shown being exploded into the air and then landing and running away, as if to say "no anonymous bad guys were actually hurt in the making of this game. people don't die in the world of Bumpy Trot!" What message would be sent if characters in fact were blown apart by exploding Trots, or stomped to death by vindictive or otherwise sadistic Trot drivers?

Look at a game like Steambot Chronicles and compare it to Oblivion, or Deus Ex, or Fable. Oblivion, for example, presents a very cold world full of treasons and deceipts, murderers and worse. Even the most moral character available in Oblivion still must wade through the mires of cruelty and the ethics of murdering other people for their missions, or in one case a Unicorn for a God. Fable, on the other hand, presents an almost cartoonish view on its world, where characters are 2-dimensional, wanting only sex, or food, or playful revenge, and everyone besides the main charcter is a faceless clone. Compared to the ultra-realism of Oblivion's character designs and backstories, Fable creates a sense of only the main character being important to the well-being or even existence of the world, and promotes the character acting in such a way (while conversely punishing the character who wishes to treat the people of the world as friends; instead, we are left with a God Complex character who cannot truly relate to the masses)

The true illusion of open-ended gaming is to think for a moment that any single-player game can present a true Free Will. Much like a movie or a book, games present more than just a simple storyline or mechanics. They present an imagined world, full of depth and color. They lay out the ground rules to such a degree that even a theoreticl situation could be explained away. They can be mimicked and replicated because they are so deep and explained. The best ones play this illusion through to the most finite details, like the consequences of feeding a cat, or stealing some yarn, or killing a farmer. These defined rules are unspoken, yet every bit as important for setting the mood and tone of the game.

True open-ended gameplay does not yet exist in a single-player world. The fact of a video game is that we are immersed, and we adopt the ruleset of that world when we play. Our choices are limited by morality, and in gaming, that morality actually belongs to the creators, not the player.

... a little bit, yeah. Especially when dealing with my financial aid AND moving all day (and of course work).

Steambot Chronicles is on the way to my house as we speak, as are Metal Saga and Suikoden V. Free games are the best games.

Coming soon will be my takes on Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom and fan-favorite Kid Icarus. Let me know if there's any other game you might want to hear my take on.

True Love doesn't count ...