Year: 2011

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Games of 2011: Tiny Tower

I’ve spent a lot of time in 2011 playing games, but not a lot of time writing about them. Instead of my usual end-of-year game recommendations, I’d like to tell some stories or share some thoughts about the ones that meant the most to me this year. I’ll be posting one a day until Christmas. See all Games of 2011 posts.

Tiny Tower

There’s no avoiding it: the era of digital distribution is finally here. It has brought us many joys – sudden sales and new pricing models, better patch and upgrade management, and the concept that reinstallation should be allowed as often as necessary.

It has also brought pain, the most prominent of which is the dreaded microtransaction, small monetary charges for game content. In the iOS world, this is generally accomplished through what is dubbed in-app purchases (IAP). IAPs have gotten a bad rap not because of their existence, but because of their use. Given the endless joy the games industry derives from squeezing cash from customers, IAPs rapidly devolved from “buy new content” to “buy a power-up” to “buy a power-up you can’t advance in the game without”. This slippery slope lead to some great feel-good stories this year, such as “8-year-old buys $1,400 worth of Smurfberries and “Tetris Finally Gains a Subscription Fee“.

But again, IAPs are not themselves evil. Even in freemium world-builder casual games where you’re selling progress boosters, it’s possible to do it in a way that doesn’t break the game. But most game developers and publishers don’t have interest in finding that balance. Monetization is a more critical deliverable than thoughtful game design.

Tiny Tower isn’t on my list because it’s a particularly deep or compelling game. It’s most a time filler — some might call it a cow clicker — with a bit of style, humor, and grace. It is pleasant enough, but also addictive enough that one gets a sensation of relief when you delete it off your device, realizing how much free time you’ll get back when you’re not restocking shops every waking moment.

Tiny Tower *is* on my list because NimbleBit found the balance. IAPs are available to fill your coffers with “tower bucks”, which can be used for a variety of purposes to advance your tower. But there is no pressing, game-breaking need to purchase them with real money to progress in the game. The game happily throws them at you regularly – bonuses for fully stocking floors, or putting someone into their dream job, or even because it’s their birthday. Through diligent play, you can accumulate enough for every optional upgrade in the game without spending a dime.

Kudos to NimbleBit for wanting to make a game that appeals to both those who will splurge on virtual goods and those who don’t care to. I wish more developers would spend the time to find that balance.

Tiny Tower is available for iOS as a Universal app, as well as for Android.

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Games of 2011: The Binding Of Isaac

I’ve spent a lot of time in 2011 playing games, but not a lot of time writing about them. Instead of my usual end-of-year game recommendations, I’d like to tell some stories or share some thoughts about the ones that meant the most to me this year. I’ll be posting one a day until Christmas. See all Games of 2011 posts.

The Binding Of Isaac

It is remarkably easy to dismiss The Binding Of Isaac. At first glance, the game appears grotesque, sickening, perhaps even juvenile. In a world full of games trying to be art, why would anyone want to dive into a game that looks like it revolves around bodily fluids?

To answer my own question: because it’s the most emotionally charged game you are likely to play this year.

Let me take nothing away from the game itself. It is a brilliant hybrid of roguelike games (levels and items are randomly spawned), The Legend Of Zelda (the familiar dungeon perspective, keys, bombs, bosses), and twin-stick shooters (primary control method). Experienced gamers are in for a treat, as the game scratches some serious arcade and RPG itches. Even if the game was abstracted away from the atmosphere of Isaac’s world, it’d be worth playing.

But oh, that world. Isaac’s plight is that his mother was told (by the voice of God) to kill her son. He escaped her murderous rage to a basement filled with other abandoned and disfigured siblings he didn’t know he had. The opening movie where this is introduced that feels tremendously unjust: watching a smiling stick-figure Isaac oblivious to his mother’s gradual insanity gives you a sense that maybe you can make this right, that maybe you can help this small child overcome evil.

But again – this is a roguelike game, and one of the core tenets of roguelike games is that death is permanent. I would go so far as to argue that death should be expected – you are going to die, and die often. You will space out temporarily and get in over your head, and all of your progress will be wiped as your character collapses. It happens — it’s part of the game mechanic, and generally part of the fun. But how I ached every time Isaac expired, as I was presented with the hand written note that starts with “Dear Diary: Today I died.” (It gets worse from there.) It wasn’t just that I had failed. It was that I had failed him, a poor character who’s only chance was my guiding hand.

The game is full of these little moments where the game twists the knife. Not long into game, you may realize that your primary weapon are your tears. All of the power-ups modify your appearance slightly, and sometimes disfigure you as well. The loading screens show Isaac in a fetal position, remembering injustices he’s suffered previously. And so on. It’s a constant emotional assault, a guilt trip to motivate you to play.

And at least for me, that works, because it makes me want to help Isaac out of this terrible mess he’s in. I want to see him overcome all the obstacles in his way. I want to get him out of that awful basement and back up to his toys. And that makes beating the game that much sweeter.

Lots of games don’t do a good enough job trying to get you to connect with your avatar. When you try to quit this title, Isaac asks “Are you sure you want me to die?”. It’s a little blunt, no doubt, but there’s no other character in gaming this year that I cared about more than poor little Isaac.

The Binding Of Isaac is available for Mac and PC.

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Enjoyed

Games of 2011: Portal 2

I’ve spent a lot of time in 2011 playing games, but not a lot of time writing about them. Instead of my usual end-of-year game recommendations, I’d like to tell some stories or share some thoughts about the ones that meant the most to me this year. I’ll be posting one a day until Christmas. See all Games of 2011 posts.

WARNING: This post is going to be spoiler-filled.

More than puzzles, rogue AIs, cake, lemons, or potatoes, I consider the Portal series – and especially this year’s Portal 2 – to be about space.

Consider the original game: you wake up in a confined cell, and are only released after a timer counts you down. As you progress through the stark white test chambers, they gradually open up in size. You begin to find cracks in the system, holes in walls that lead to clues that there’s something much larger going on around you. Then the much promised twist comes, and as you flee, you start to see how large this world might be. The game ends with you in the outside world, collapsed on the pavement, with the sun shining down on you.

It’s been over half a year since I played through Portal 2, but the bits that have stuck with me all relate to the use of space. In particular:

Waking up at the start of the game in a small, obviously fake hotel room. As the room is forced to move, the walls begin to fall apart and you take in rows upon rows of shipping containers – all presumably holding rooms similar to yours. Yes, it’s a set piece. Yes, there’s minimal interactivity. But it sets the stage, letting the player know that this world goes far beyond their view.

Throughout the game, while you may be on narrow platforms and ramps, the game areas typically have unbelievably high ceilings, with tubes and machines stacked as far as you can see.

The intermediary caverns, used to traverse between the major areas of the game, are huge. I actually disliked these parts – they were an exercise in zooming in to a distant platform, praying you might find a surface to open a portal on. Flawed as they were, they did convey a sense of distance and expansiveness to the world.

Portal 2 expanded on the idea that the test chambers were configurable, and often does so right before you, walls shifting mechanically to define the space. Sometimes this happens slowly — rooms that aren’t ready when you enter them. Other times it’s done as part of a chase sequence, forcing you to re-evaluate your options on the fly. You never lose sight of the fact that beyond the walls of the chamber you’re in, there’s a giant world.

Consider GLaDOS herself as well. Originally just a person, her mind is transferred to a computer, and suddenly she is omnipresent within the walls of Aperture. In the middle of Portal 2, she is transferred to a potato battery — clearly a space too small, as she constantly shorts out — and forced to ride shotgun with you. Your main mission becomes to restore her as she was, as the alternative you’re faced with may be much worse.

And of course, there are the two big moments right at the end of the game: the roof caving in during the final boss fight, where you must use space quite literally; and your eventual departure from Aperture Science, left to your own devices in an endless field of wheat.

Portal 2 is better in practically every way over the original. The new mechanics, the writing, the music, the voice work, and the co-op options are all top notch. But it’s the sense of scale and space that made it transcend the first game for me.

As a postscript, I also want to cite Erik Wolpaw’s wonderful offhand comment about Chell’s fate in an interview he did with PC Gamer shortly after release:

> She does get a happy ending, there’s no point in being negative about it, I just can’t let go of the fact that we know where she gets that happy ending, and there could be some danger out there. I’m an adult, terrible shit happens to me all the time. I want happy endings for everyone, the kind I’m not gonna get in real life – I mean, we’re all gonna die, let’s face it.

Portal 2 is available for Windows and OS X on Steam, the Playstation 3, and the Xbox 360.