Lessons From Gamefest

As per-usual, prior to the Summer Sale, Steam hosted "Next Fest", the continuation of the Steam Games Festival with dozens and dozens of demos for upcoming games. There were so many, I didn't even have time to try all the ones I wanted, but there plenty of things I took away from the ones I did try.

Firstly, the artsy exploration platformer, Sable.

One of the key characteristics of Animation (especially Japanese animation) is not always drawing to the framerate. In a 24 frames per second film, sometimes a character's motion will be draw in 12 frames. It's what makes animation unique, allowing for techniques or just a general feel that's not possible in live-action.

What I've noticed is how rarely games have experimented with this intentionally. DOOM's super-shotgun reloads in nine frames, but this is when elevation in a """""""3D""""""" game was mind-blowing. Expecting detailed animations from a game in 1993's overreaching. 

Arc System Works have positively nailed the anime aesthetic with gorgeous games such as Guilty Gear Xrd, and Dragonball Z Fighterz, but those games are 2.5D fighters, games running on a 3D engine that's played entirely on a two dimensional plane, with the only 3D animations witnessed taking place in cutscenes or special moves.

I've not yet witnessed a first or third person shooter for instance do this aesthetic intentionally. The original Halo PC Port kept its 30fps animations regardless of the game's actual framerate a player's computer, and it was often criticized, making it look and feel almost like the game's lagging, or running worse than it actually is.

My theory was Halo felt that way because the entire game was playing 30fps animations, enemies, reloads, physics, melee attacks, etc. What gives Anime its Aesthetic, is the amount of frames in an animation varies according to the action. You're eyes are always interested, because they're witnessing something new constantly.

What I wondered was if you could apply that to a 3D game and make it work, and Sable gives me confidence it is possible.

It's a game where your character intentionally runs with fewer frames being animated than even the worst of computers would run the game at, it's outlines are fuzzy or uneven like the artist didn't have access to a ruler, and colors in the environment can be occasionally flat and yet... it's a feast for the eyes. All of Sable's imperfections are placed so perfectly, the game looks uniquely beautiful.

Now, all I want to see next is somebody do this with an action game where visuals need to beautiful and unobtrusive.

On an entirely separate note, Severed Steel was the first game I played, and it's rough in its current state. Clean UI doesn't necessarily mean an intuitive UI. I spent the first batch of levels thinking the number on my lower third was the health, it wasn't, it was the ammo counter. There's also no feedback audio or visual for when you're a pixel away from death, you have to keep your eyes locked on the healthbar in your lower third for that information.

And for a game that's about picking enemies off one by one John Woo style through window dives in slow-motion, you'd think objectives would be more interesting than shoot out generators. 

I'd almost rather key-card hunt.

And yet... there's a core-gameplay loop that makes me wanna boot it up right now just thinking about it. While there's various aspects of the game that're deeply flawed in their current state, what you do 90% of the time in an action game, moving and shooting, is damn satisfying, and how often does that get nailed so early on?

Finally, Industria, actually a game I added to the Wishlist before the season based purely on its gorgeous artwork and atmosphere. Built by new developer Bleakmill, it immediately grabs your attention with its depiction of an East Germany from another reality, shortly before the end of the Cold War.

Beginning the Demo, your confined to sleek hallways during a storm, hunting down audio-logs, listening to your character, and observing the environmental storytelling, immediately giving me SOMA vibes which is always a good reminder.

Similar to how enjoyable Severed Steel was for nailing its core-gameplay, I was intrigued by Industria's tangible atmosphere, even before the story kicks off.

But then my character held a gun and immediately I thought... oh no.

Because this isn't Resident Evil 2 Remake. It's not Dead Space. It's not Metro. It's not a large team of experienced developers crafting weapons, enemies, levels, and AI. Everything described and the controls feels off. AI's dumb as rocks, weapons sound less powerful than paintball guns, feedback's minimal in animation and visual effects, and even mouse control feels off irrespective of V-Sync settings.

Granted, that last part could easily be resolved in the future, but the rest... I'm less confident in, and it really reminded me of experiences like LA Noire, where combat doesn't feel like a natural component, but an obligation, to tell consumers there's more to this game than walking around when in reality, combat doesn't automatically mean depth...

The overwhelming majority of first-person shooters go no further than pointing and clicking on targets, and by that point, if your game is about storytelling and worldbuilding, why not just let people walk through it? They'll be able to absorb everything you've created rather than think "wow, this pistol sucks."