The Games That Could Have Been GMTK GOTY 2018 (Insider) (Patreon)

So, every year I make a video where I talk about the design of that year’s most innovative, well designed, or interesting game. I’ve chatted about Her Story in 2015, Event[0] in 2016, and Snake Pass in 2017. 

For 2018, I had a really difficult time finding the right game. Initially I was dead set on Return of the Obra Dinn (a wonderful detective game from Papers, Please designer Lucas Pope) but struggled to find the words.

Would I be repeating stuff I said in my “good detective game” video? Could I talk about the game without spoiling it? Could I say anything interesting to the people who have finished it? Is it just too obvious that I’d pick this game?

In the end - Obra Dinn was the right choice. I think! I’m satisfied I have something interesting to say, and will explore ideas that goes beyond the stuff in my detective video. I’m really excited to make this video and get it out for you before I pack up for Christmas.

But while I was going back and forth on this idea, I did quite serious research into other games I could make videos about. I even wrote an entire script for one of them! And in this article I wanted to share some of those thoughts. Here’s what could have been in the final video of 2018.

Astro Bot Rescue Mission

Astro Bot is a cheerful, joyful, wonderful VR game. It’s a Mario-style platformer, about a teeny tiny robot who collects coins, beats up baddies, rescues his friends, and takes on big boss fights. Outside of VR it would be a pretty standard platformer - above average, but nothing special. But slip on that VR headset and everything changes.

Suddenly, the game is playing with scale and perspective - as Astro Bot is exploring areas that look 20 metres away and the bosses tower over you like skyscrapers. And it makes you really look around, as collectibles might be hidden in areas that you can’t see unless you crane your neck or tilt your head. 

But what really makes this game stand out is how it positions Astro Bot and you, the player, as two separate characters. You move Astrobot with the controller just like any other game, but you can control yourself (a much bigger, floating robot) by moving your head or physically moving the controller.

This leads to things like head-butting a wall so Astro Bot can go through. Like enemies that try to shoot you (you!) with projectiles, so you have to duck out the way, or header them back. And you get modifications for the controller, like a rope that can connect to grapple points to make a bridge for Astro Bot.

It creates this sort of fourth wall shattering effect that brings you in close cooperation with the character on screen in a way I haven’t really seen before, and is one of the major sources of charm and surprise in this lovely game.

Into the Breach

Most strategy games tend to hide information from the player. They have a fog of war to hide what’s happening beyond your immediate view. Or they have random rolls to dictate whether things will work. Or they have unpredictable enemy AI to deal with.

Into the Breach rejects all of this, and has - almost! - “perfect information”, which means there are unknown factors before you make a decision. It tells you what an enemy is going to do next turn, the order of events, and what will happen when you act. Only a scant few details are left unknown or to chance.

And you might think this would make things easy. But oh no! This actually allows Subset Games (developers of FTL) to ramp up the difficultly considerably. Aliens come from all sides and over-run you with superior force. You might know what’s about to happen, but that doesn’t mean you’re able to easily stop it. 

And sometimes there is no perfect answer. In one round you might wipe out the enemy force (using that foresight of enemy actions to, say, push one foe into the attack path of another). But the next, you might need to make a necessary sacrifice to stay in the game.

It’s a daring shake up of strategy conventions, making for a really addictive puzzle-like game of trying to stay one step ahead of the enemy.

Minit

Minit looks like an old Zelda game and plays like a simplified point and click adventure. Find the axe, so you can chop down trees. Give water to a thirsty man. Get a press pass to get into the factory. And so on.

That is - until the clock hits 60 seconds and you die. You’re back to the last bed you found and must start again.

Well, not again again. This game is not like other timer-centric games like Majora’s Mask and Sexy Brutale where (nearly) everything resets when you die. No, Minit lets you keep stuff and records your progress. It’s actually just killing you, like playing Dark Souls while constantly being poisoned - you’re gonna die at some point and restart from the last bonfire, but you can keep playing with all your stuff.

So how is that fun? To constantly be sent back? Well, it’s all about learning the world design and making smart choices about where to go and how to get there. You can’t dilly dally, so you need to rush about - with a speed-runner’s sensibilities, to get anything done. 

And the game loves to troll you - with characters who talk to slow and marshy bogs that are slow to walk through - all with the intention of making you say “Come on! Come on!” as the timer ticks down.

This is a cute and charming game, but personally, I wasn’t as enamoured with the concept as others. I felt it didn’t lean into this idea enough and didn’t adequately answer why it was important or interesting for the character to keep dying. Even the world design stuff could have been more interesting with shortcuts and stuff.

Florence

Florence is billed as an “interactive story about love and life” and it tells the tale of a young woman named Florence Yeoh, through a montage of tiny mini games.

These range from brushing your teeth to shaking polaroid pictures. And from eating meals to going to work. And what makes these work is the way that indie developer Mountain uses mechanics and metaphor to express the feeling of performing these actions, and going through life.

It’s especially prominent when Florence meets Krish, and the two begin dating. Krish reveals his dreams to Florence - as you scrape away at the surface with your finger to reveal the image underneath. Florence pushes Krish to follow his dreams and attend music school - and you tap repeatedly on the screen to get Krish to the other side of the screen.

The best example, though, has to be the conversation system. Here, speech bubbles are created from puzzle pieces.

They’re hard to put together at first - representing the awkward opening remarks on a first date. But as the couple draws closer, the puzzles get easier. The pieces are bigger and the jigsaws come together more quickly - showing how it’s easier to find the right words.

And when rifts open up between the pair the conversational puzzle pieces don’t just change shape (to squares and then spikes), but the couple start to talk over each other. The camera moves apart, so you have to physically drag the screen back to Florence to get your words in. And whoever speaks fastest gets to dominate the conversation, and tip the balance of power.

It does a really good job of expressing a feeling through representational and non-specific mechanics. It’s not exactly subtle! But it’s still a lovely experience.  

There were some more I briefly considered like Wandersong (an adventure where you accomplish tasks by singing), Prey: Mooncrash (an immersive sim, turned into a roguelike), The Messenger (an 8bit platformer that turns into a 16bit Metroidvania), Yoku’s Island Express (a Metroidvania that’s also a pinball game), Moonlighter (a dungeon crawler where you also have to run the shop that sells your loot) and Donut County (you play as a hole). 

But all of this research will certainly be used in future videos. I have plans, for example, for a video on information in strategy games and will be able to talk about Into the Breach. And Florence’s conversation system will certainly come back whenever I next talk about metaphorical mechanics.

(Oh, and I know that most years I also do a top 5 in December. I decided not to this year - I just couldn’t find an angle I wanted to do and I've decided to stop doing videos that I don't have my heart in. Sorry about that, hope you’re not too disappointed!)

I’ve got lots planned for 2019 - I can’t wait to get started on this series about multiplayer balance, and another planned series about main characters. Plus Designing for Disability and Boss Keys and more GMTK. Yikes! Looking forward to a relaxing Christmas break and then I'm right back into it!

Talk soon

Mark