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Wii’ve Been Played!
By Corvus | November 29, 2006
A while back I said that the Wii would bring gameplay out of our televisions and into our living rooms. Given the number of blank, quizzical, and/or skeptical stares I’ve received when repeating this belief since, I thought it might bear further discussion. As always, I’m gong to back up a bit and try to sneak up on my explanation.
After logging a large number of hours playing half-a-handful of Wii titles, namely — Zelda, Wii Sports, and Rayman Raving Rabbids — and an ever growing sampling of others — Red Steel, ExciteTruck, Madden, and Marvel Ultimate Alliance– I’m getting a picture of two extreme ends of a spectrum of Wii controller design.
The one end of the spectrum is a very traditional approach to controller use. What was once mapped to a button press is now mapped to a very specific controller movement. The question these designers ask themselves is, “What movement can we have the player perform to cause an effect in the game?” Failure to move the controller in the specified manner at the specified moment results in frustration and seemingly unresponsive gameplay. Thus far, Ultimate alliance is the clearest example of this. Despite the ads with players striking Wolverine poses, I have yet to feel an Nth as cool as our favorite anti-hero. Instead, I spend my time trying to shake the Wiimote in just the right fashion to evoke a simple claw attack. My compatriots kick,swirl, stomp, throw their shields, and gain XP, as I twitch the Wiimote back and forth, hoping to find just the right degree of swing I need to pull off the most basic of moves. Swing too wide and your hero just stands there. Swing too small and you’re met with the same result. I have found nothing engaging or fun about playing MUA on the Wii. In fact, for the first time I found myself wanting to plug in a standard controller in order to make sense of the game.
I expect we’ll see more and more cross platform titles that take this approach… Titles, that is, that weren’t designed from the ground up with the Wii in mind. I also expect we’re going to see a large number of titles for which the developers simply don’t get the Wiimote and Nunchuck controllers, or worse, see them as a new opportunity to make their games more challenging, and therefore frustrating. I’m relatively convinved that if there are too many examples of this sort of game, it could spell doom for the platform. It’s frustrating enough trying to mash buttons at precisely the right time, but add in a restrictive and punishing movement based system and you’re going to loose that new audience Nintendo is trying to court.
The opposite end of the spectrum is defined by the question, “What in-game situations can I create which will require the player to perform certain actions?” This is the end of the spectrum that I feel is “moving gameplay into our living rooms.” Now, instead of merely worrying about mapping functions to a controller in a manner which people will find intuitive, we have an opportunity to engage, and potentially thrill, our audience with the control system. No one goes to work and says, “I played this game last night and when you hold down the ‘A’ button longer, you jump higher!” I’m willing to wager, however, that people will go to work and brag about pulling off an excellent jump when they had to lift, swing, or otherwise manipulate a controller in 3D space. I know I will be (much to the chagrin of my new office mates, I’m sure).
And that’s key to the Wii experience — player movement is now a critical component of game design. It’s not enough to think “what controller movement can I map to this action?” Now we must think “what player movement can I inspire with this action?” As soon as you ask that question, Voila!, you’ve moved gameplay out of your game and into your audience’s living rooms.
Thus far, Rayman Raving Rabbids and Wii Sports have most clearly been designed at this end of the spectrum. I’m looking forward to more narrative titles which strongly embrace the controller as well. Of course, as I’ve (hopefully) made clear, this is a spectrum and finding the right spot for your game is important. Zelda has almost certainly found it, with only one frustrating advanced fighting move that I’ve found so far. Madden, I believe, found their sweet spot, although it leans a little further to the traditional end of the spectrum for my tastes (which, admittedly, could merely be my anti-football bias talking). So, speaking of spectrums: here’s a quick run down of the games I’ve played thus far and their relationship across the spectrum. Perhaps I’ll create something graphical and fun at some point, but for now you’ll have to put up with a list:
- Traditional
- Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
- Madden ‘07
- Red Steel
- Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
- ExciteTruck
- Wii sports
- Rayman Raving Rabbids
- Innovative
I look forward to the next year. As is true with any console, we’re only going to see better and stronger design approaches to the Wiimote and Nunchuck. Add the DS-as-controller potential to the mix and we’re in for a bumpingly, jumpingly, strokingly, swingingly, drawingly, waggleingly, tappingly, era of dynamic and engaging gameplay… right in our living rooms!
Tagged:Carnival, Design, Games. | 7 Comments »
November 29th, 2006 at 9:48 am
Really great to have a chance to read about your Wii impressions (jealousy aside… ;> ). I agree with you that the Wiimote creates options to create play from movement, and that this is a great opportunity. The EyeToy was perhaps the first step in this direction (c.f. Nights on Sega Superstars), but the Wii has greater potential.
The most interesting angle for me as a game designer is: the Wiimote becomes your real-world analogue for [tool]; what physical actions could you make with a real [tool] that can be emulated with the Wiimote? Roll on the Virtual Screwdriver simulator.
What we have here is a whole new level of mimicry that *doesn’t* depend upon visuals (the only dimension of mimicry Sony have bet on – having cut the haptic feedback i.e. rumble on PS3). It is perhaps the most interesting development in console gaming since the arrival of true 3D in the mid-90s.
I look forward to seeing the new roads taken – and to reading your commentry therein.
Cheers!
November 29th, 2006 at 9:59 am
Unless cross-platform games are willing to really take some time to consider the uniqueness of the Wii remote I think they’re better off just sticking to a more conventional controller format. I’d rather just have Ultimate Alliance or some other game play the same way. What this likely means is that cross-platform games will likely be purchased on my console of choice rather than just for the Wii unless they can truly offer a unique experience.
The plus side really is that now Nintendo can have truly stand out titles that are not just developed by them. As a developer, if I want to try something really innovative from a controller standpoint, which console is going to offer me the most options? Seems like a no-brainer to me.
November 29th, 2006 at 10:20 am
I was just commenting on my suspicions aboout a Marvel Alliance Wii would work. Honestly I imagine I’d prefer to use the GC style controll than the Wii for such button mashers.
I’m extremely glad the Wii has gotten so well out of the gate – but I’m not 100% sure of it’s success at this point. I can’t help but share some of the doubts I had about the DS … despite how well the DS has done.
December 1st, 2006 at 4:23 pm
Thanks for sharing, Corvus.
So far, I haven’t played a lot of Madden NFL 07, but the controller movements seem to be mapped fairly naturally to what you would be doing on screen. The only thing that would be more interesting is if you had to move the controllers up and down in a running motion (though I suspect that would have really torqued off some players).
Still, I found the stiff arm moves to be fairly intuitive and the throwing made sense. I’m going to have to get some more time with it, but it’s decent thus far. In general, the movements seem fairly natural to me once I think about it.
I’ve liked Zelda and the design of the game lends itself to a gradual learning curve of how you can use the tools. I’m thinking Nintendo was unwilling to take the risk of radically altering how you would play this game and reserved that showcase for Wii Sports.
I haven’t played a lot of Red Steel so far (mostly head-to-head), but flippy wrist thingy while you’re trying to point your gun and the lack of a clearly defined strafe option make this a little difficult to recommend. I’m going to have to play the single player and see if it gets any better.
December 7th, 2006 at 9:02 pm
[...] Hey, it’s cool, guys. Don’t look embarrassed. It’s not a problem that both of you brought some Wii to the table. Like I said, it’s fresh! We’ve got The Game Chair’s Microcosm of the Early Wii Experience piece, so that’s one way to prepare it. I also see over there what looks like Man Byte’s Blogs’ Wii’ve Been Played. I had a taste of that earlier, and it is quite well done. Good job, sir. Ah, and then we also have Belated Birthday Wishes for the Xbox 360. Did Gaming Nexus bring that? Right! We were trying out your recipe at Slashdot the other day, and everybody seemed to really like it. [...]
January 15th, 2007 at 4:19 am
[...] Corvus Elrod ponders Wii design elements: Wii’ve Been Played!. It’s so true that the Wiimote adds additional element in designing games for Wii. A challenging design element I must say. [...]
January 15th, 2007 at 7:21 am
Welcome Carnival of Game Production visitors! Be sure to check out this month’s Game Blogs of the Round Table event while you’re here (link).