Interactivity is one of the key concepts through which games engage their audience. It allows a communication in which games are distinct from other forms of media, because of the
(1) player actions seeming to have direct consequences in the world presented to them. American designer Edwin Schlossberg saying how, “True interactivity is not clicking on icons or downloading files, It’s about encouraging communication.” So to an audience, the range of this communication is able to be presented in different ways through the medium of games and their systems of information. Be it complete player control in the world around them or structured narrative set by the game developers. The question of the possibilities offered by these interactions can be limitless, and so I’m going to explore the conditional structure of an iconic video game in order to then explore the possibilities of interaction between developers or designers, and their audience. My exploration will mainly be concerning the video game “Legend of Zelda” however as to deepen the research I will also be referencing other titles, genres and styles, how game developers present interaction and information in their designs, and then interactions of the player following or opposing the natural progression of the games.
Before I explore the Legend of Zelda however, I want to look into use of interaction and information structure in general video games and set conditional design. In almost all video game systems, there is a set amount of steps the player must follow in order to use the game console or system, the most basic of which for example is turning on the game console. The taught action of turning the machine on is a set condition that all developers make in order to access content,
(1) the teaching of this interaction could be said to be universal, and so the interactivity of this is a industry standard. After this step, more set conditions are present that must be met in order to play the game, settings and controls must be mapped as to set the basic information input, and allow the player to have control, this system of teaching the player how to access the content they want is an interactive design that developers choose. In comparison to this could be the system of rules, and information structure in analog games such as board games. Interaction in board games for example are inherently social activities, in which the information of the game is agreed upon between players, as there is no system to regulate or teach the conditions of playing, rules may be set as a standard for
(2) the game, such as how many games will be played, the allowed moves, and the end goal. Very similar to how in video games the control and settings of each game can be chosen by the player from a selection of the developers choice, however it is up to the players interacting with one another, on a physical level as to create the game parameters. In the game of ‘Chess’ for example, this allows a flexibility in board games not present in video games, different variants of games can be played, such as check-less chess where the move “check” is not allowed, or Chess960 where the placement of pieces is randomised, the agreement of the style of game is set by the players interacting and communicating with one another. Tracy Fullerton explores in her book (Game Design Workshop: A Play-centric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, 2014) how the basic controls of a game system are directly related to its physical design, board games or card games offer control by direct manipulations of their equipment, and that direct control of movement is a clear-cut way for players to influence the state of the game. There are no computers or systems to interfere with user input and the actioned result, and so this mean that all actions sanctioned in the game are a direct result of a players decision. Video games do not have this flexibility of design structure, as the player is only choosing from a selection of pre-determined actions set by the developer, rather then a communication of free will. This depth of interaction for structure both in video and board games explores a communication outside the game design, caused by the game forcing communication either between player or developers for clarity. Columnist Jiaxin Wen (Social Interaction in Virtual Reality Board Games, 2017) writes about this saying how ‘Spoken communication is important and players build up their connections based on talking and discussing. We can see that many game elements serve to lead players to communicate’ Outside interactions such as spoken communication means players can either create immediate results within their game system, or can suggest to developers how a system may be improved, generating feedback and progress within the design.
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Moving on from the system of game design and into the more dynamic interaction of players and story, we explore how set choices or paths can present information structure in “The Legend of Zelda (TLoZ) ”. TLoZ was aground breaker in terms of a design system that allowed freedom of player interaction within video games, up until its creation most games followed a set arc style named ‘The Hero’s Journey’ (Right)
(3) which documented the journey of a protagonist and the various steps he must make in order to complete the narrative, while Christopher Volger (Excepts from Myth and the Movies, Pg 1, 2006) says the Hero's Journey provides a flexible and adaptable model with the potential for an infinite variety of shapes and progressions of Stages. The Journey's Stages may be avoided, repeated, or shifted about depending upon the needs of the individual story”
Whilst ToLZ also follows this narrative, it was the first game concept that would allow player interactivity on such as scale within the game, that this archetype could be broken and warped to the players own freedoms. The original backstory behind “The Legend of Zelda” and the developer Shigeru Miyamoto, was that The Legend of Zelda was principally inspired by Shigeru Miyamoto's explorations as a young boy in his childhood home Sonobe, Japan. Where he ventured into forests with secluded lakes, caves, and villages. Miyamoto saying that, one of his most memorable experiences was “The discovery of a cave entrance in the middle of the woods. After some hesitation, he entered the cave, and explored its depths with the aid of a lantern.” Miyamoto has referred to the creation of the Zelda games as an attempt to bring to life a
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(4) "miniature garden" for players to explore. The attempt then of the games design basis is to create a space in which players can experience the same freedom, and sense of adventure that developer Miyamoto felt as a child. The interaction of the developer and audience is a communicative narrative that tries to create a theme that all who experience the game can relate to i.e. adventure, mystery, childhood, etc. Even the name of the games protagonist is Link, because as Miyamoto says, “He connects people together,”. The design of the games narratives is an attempt at interacting with the audience directly, and immediately setting a scene of community to engage with. This huge design inspiration is matched only by the games vast open world, and so with these two elements together the possibility of freedom within this setting allows the design of the game to be as expressive within the traditional archetype as the player wishes, players can choose many options as to how to follow the narrative pattern, and the interactions they pick then forms new possibilities within the game, such as a player deciding to skip all the general information and head straight to the end fight, or a player exploring this world presented as an enjoyment rather then following the actual narrative plot of the game, ‘Zelda’ presents these interactive possibilities so well because the scale allows a truly immersive open world, even through we are only playing what a developer has set for us to do, the amount of choices in what order we explore or the interactions we choose to use, fakes a sense of limitless freedom in a limited setting. Summarised by the Zelda design team: “Discovery is an essential part, if not THE essence, of childhood, and Miyamoto’s games offer an opportunity to explore and discover … You leave the cave and now face a choice. You can go north, east or west in this game. This is new.” The series was the first to offer this true open world exploration, and the interactions it offers are a development of this concept. New design features, such as real-time experiences that respond to the players actions in quick time, and the developing interaction of a system and its player create dialogue in this new ‘open world’ of gaming, this sense of limitless adventure through interaction then opens up possibilities to cause the player to feel something within the game, not present in more linear titles. For example if a player was to interact within a game, could it cause a real world ‘human’ response and elevate it from machinery to personal connections.
On the other hand however, limiting the interactive design possibilities within video games can create new dialogues to learn from. For games that have a linear story plot, often the interactive elements are restricted as to focus the narrative, so when this interaction allowed by the player is restricted, we explore new possibilities of design within games. Rather then an open exploratory idea, we can now focus an idea into a story, and choose what information we want the player to gleam. Video game magazine ‘The Escapist’ writes about how the medium of narrative has developed over time, and how video games utilise it as a design tool, in that Each form of storytelling has a very exact reason and purpose. “Through the written word, or
(5) through voice, the nature of that story is to tell another human being about an event…These visual focused forms of storytelling have shown us incredible value, but not without complications. They allow us to communicate those complex ideas in new ways, but even then their can be a disconnect between the information and the audience. Signal to noise ratio, so to speak. Video games challenge that problem of noise by doing something that those
(6) other forms of storytelling can't do: they allow the viewer to be a part of the story.” (Are Video Games the New Great Medium for Telling Stories?, 2017.) So in the same way that the scope of the world and the ‘free interactions’ are restricted, the ability to interact with an understanding is increased. As to present these limited interactions however, the content or systems behind them must be of a solid structure or story. For example Atlus’ Catherine explores the idea of what a relationship is like for a man. It allows women to cross the gender barrier and see what kind of hardships exist for many men when it comes to intimacy. While Quantic Dream's Heavy Rain allows the player to explore the pain and anguish that nearly destroys a parent after the premature death of one of their children. As compared to TLoZ’s freedom and light hearted approach to adventure, the stories and concepts here are much more intense, but the interactions this intensity allows means the message is delivered in an eloquent clear manner. So to capitalise on this trade off of knowledge, developers have to re-work the information they want to present into a coherent narrative that the player can become a part of, by immersing themselves within the information presented, players both gain information and the pleasure of playing the game is not diminished. The narrative then has to be a solid foundation, and video game narratives have the capacity to do this like no other, they have to be in order to share thought-provoking information.
To conclude, The Legend of Zelda’s design is an exploration of how freedom can become a tool of interaction and communication within games, if a sense of freedom can offer new experiences or teach new meanings within a rather set, and controlled system. The use of this freedom within games is becoming more exploratory as to what they can offer a user, it's in our nature to play games and so by using this desire to explore, we can use interaction and design as to offer real world experiences to users. And whilst different games use different means to do this, such as the scale of the world, the setting of a linear or non linear pattern, and how the player is able to interact with this, the overall structure in video games is becoming more controlled by the actual player. Comparing this with more traditional board games that use direct human interaction shows how video games can be both restricted but also more free in their scope, in that why their will never be complete freedom of system or rules, the worlds or concepts within these systems can become more diverse in possibility then the actual removal of systems altogether. In that the video games need a necessary additional interface that comes between the game and the player, but this extra layer of interface is to enable interaction in a deeper more meaningful way, and can open up concepts such as development of worlds and the telling of a story, this then lets emotions like confusion, joy, or anger become frequent