Imagine, an entire genre of deep, rich storytelling, engrossing characters, falling out of your chair-laughter and intriguing puzzles, all played with a single hand. This was the Point-and-Click Adventure genre. Games like Full Throttle, Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, all the way back to Kings Quest; these were the charmers that defined a generation of PC gaming. Now, suck the life right out of the entire genre, drop your player on an island with literally zero introduction, zero exposition, zero instruction (zero punctu- err... nevermind) and say, "alright, figure everything out now," and you have Myst.
Sounds horrible right? I mean, how can you have a legitimate game where you have no idea what's going on, you don't know your main character's name, you don't know where you are, what to do, or are given any sense of direction in anyway whatsoever? You start up the game, and there you are. No one to talk to, no one to ask for directions... no longer are you watching your character on screen pointing at where you want him or her to walk, you're not having incredible quips back and forth with a cleverly written NPC who you need to make move out of your way somehow so you can get to the thing you need to put the other thing into to make the thing that does the thing so you can go to the place. No sir, you are there, you are presumably "you" and you have to figure out just what the heck you're doing. No sir, you are inside your own head this time, seeing things as you would if you were there... provided you're forced to close your eyes every time you take a step forward or turn slightly to the right. Still... shut up... it was immersive, kay?
To anyone that's played through Myst these words may be evoking smiles of nostalgia already. You see Myst did something that few games do... they made you tell your friend about it, and you wanted them to play it, and you wanted to tell them NOTHING about it. You simply want them to enjoy (or suffer) through the same feelings of isolation, desolation, confusion and bewilderment that you had to push through in order figure out just what was going on. It also showed us that we're sadistic creatures that like making the people we care about feel isolated, desolate and confused... well at least that's what it showed me.
Myst had one thing going for it that few games can create these days: "atmosphere;" and it had it in spades. The crafters over at Cyan Studios (who just recently released the iPhone version of Myst) created something timeless. They made a completely original game, with a completely original world, with completely original gameplay. Sporting graphics like none seen at the time and a story that required significant thought and pondering, they brought the point-and-click genre to the adult world (the, thinky thinky one, not the bouncy bouncy one), darkened the humor a bit, removed all the goofiness (save for maybe the acting of two of the actual characters you DO... err... "meet," in the game) and made people who didn't play games, play games. (Mom, can I please have the computer now?)
This Princess needs saving because too often games rely on opening cutscene expository dialogue that tell you literally EVERYTHING the designers feel you "need" to know at the beginning in order to make sense of their storyline. Why not just write a storyline clever enough that you don't have to explain everything right out of the gate? Why not create gameplay that lets players discover the world how they would intuitively without popups every five seconds telling you that you can indeed only hold two weapons and that if you pick up a third by holding down the [use] button, you'll drop the one you currently have selected, so choose your weapons wisely... and at some point in the game you may find an upgrade that lets you carry a third weapon, but that weapon will always be available to you and if you pick up a fourth weapon while you happen to be holding onto the always available third weapon, it will replace the first weapon in your inventory and immediately switch to it, but not to worry, you still have that third weapon that will always be available and in case you make a mistake and switch out the wrong weapon, the weapon you drop will remain on the ground in front of you with all the ammo you collected so you can switch it out for the appropriate weapon instead. Yeah, can we please get rid of that?
This PWS is your mom's hot friend who you fantasize about spending some "quality time" with when she comes over and your mom happens to be out shopping for pants or whatever moms do these days. She has worlds more experience than you and can teach you a thing or three about how the world works, and where exactly to point and click in order win the game... or something. I'm sorry I lost track of my innuendo, but you get the point.
-SP
Sounds horrible right? I mean, how can you have a legitimate game where you have no idea what's going on, you don't know your main character's name, you don't know where you are, what to do, or are given any sense of direction in anyway whatsoever? You start up the game, and there you are. No one to talk to, no one to ask for directions... no longer are you watching your character on screen pointing at where you want him or her to walk, you're not having incredible quips back and forth with a cleverly written NPC who you need to make move out of your way somehow so you can get to the thing you need to put the other thing into to make the thing that does the thing so you can go to the place. No sir, you are there, you are presumably "you" and you have to figure out just what the heck you're doing. No sir, you are inside your own head this time, seeing things as you would if you were there... provided you're forced to close your eyes every time you take a step forward or turn slightly to the right. Still... shut up... it was immersive, kay?
To anyone that's played through Myst these words may be evoking smiles of nostalgia already. You see Myst did something that few games do... they made you tell your friend about it, and you wanted them to play it, and you wanted to tell them NOTHING about it. You simply want them to enjoy (or suffer) through the same feelings of isolation, desolation, confusion and bewilderment that you had to push through in order figure out just what was going on. It also showed us that we're sadistic creatures that like making the people we care about feel isolated, desolate and confused... well at least that's what it showed me.
Myst had one thing going for it that few games can create these days: "atmosphere;" and it had it in spades. The crafters over at Cyan Studios (who just recently released the iPhone version of Myst) created something timeless. They made a completely original game, with a completely original world, with completely original gameplay. Sporting graphics like none seen at the time and a story that required significant thought and pondering, they brought the point-and-click genre to the adult world (the, thinky thinky one, not the bouncy bouncy one), darkened the humor a bit, removed all the goofiness (save for maybe the acting of two of the actual characters you DO... err... "meet," in the game) and made people who didn't play games, play games. (Mom, can I please have the computer now?)
This Princess needs saving because too often games rely on opening cutscene expository dialogue that tell you literally EVERYTHING the designers feel you "need" to know at the beginning in order to make sense of their storyline. Why not just write a storyline clever enough that you don't have to explain everything right out of the gate? Why not create gameplay that lets players discover the world how they would intuitively without popups every five seconds telling you that you can indeed only hold two weapons and that if you pick up a third by holding down the [use] button, you'll drop the one you currently have selected, so choose your weapons wisely... and at some point in the game you may find an upgrade that lets you carry a third weapon, but that weapon will always be available to you and if you pick up a fourth weapon while you happen to be holding onto the always available third weapon, it will replace the first weapon in your inventory and immediately switch to it, but not to worry, you still have that third weapon that will always be available and in case you make a mistake and switch out the wrong weapon, the weapon you drop will remain on the ground in front of you with all the ammo you collected so you can switch it out for the appropriate weapon instead. Yeah, can we please get rid of that?
This PWS is your mom's hot friend who you fantasize about spending some "quality time" with when she comes over and your mom happens to be out shopping for pants or whatever moms do these days. She has worlds more experience than you and can teach you a thing or three about how the world works, and where exactly to point and click in order win the game... or something. I'm sorry I lost track of my innuendo, but you get the point.
-SP
