Once upon a time, computer and console games were the bread and butter of geeks – they brought on the image of people glued to their monitors and lost in a world very far from reality. More recently though, that stereotype has begun to erode. Entire generations are now growing up with digital activities as their main source for entertainment and learning. Other gaming platforms, such as the Nintendo Wii, are already making strides by appealing to non-typical gamers. Understanding how these trends affect the cultural context of a “gamer” and learning from processes championed by gaming companies will pave the way to successful interactive concepts.
An interesting case in point is Portal, a small game that has gained a tremendous
grassroots following and has swept almost all the awards at the Games Developer Conference this year. Portal is an unusual puzzle-action experience that focuses on the fun of solving brain-twisters rather than on the average gaming adventure, where players enroll in zombie/monster/dragon killing sprees (read more about Portal here). In a world where games have been outdoing each other in developing incredible physics engines and highly graphical worlds, Portal has boldly gone the opposite way. As leading strategies, they have cut the visual effects down to a bare minimum and focused on top-of-the-line user experience. The power of Portal lies in particular in two characteristics that are highly applicable to other interactive pieces:
- integrated narrative and design
- scheduled user testing/user acceptance trials that feed-forward into design & production
So, what does the user gain when design and copy play nicely together? Portal's appeal stems largely from using extremely talented writing. When this feature is backed up by a compelling game environment, it creates a seamless storyline. Players end up more engaged and they develop strong affinities for the world/characters. If you want an example of brilliant design, look no further than the most beloved character – the weighted companion cube. People have made videos and music about the cube, they have created and bought plush toys, and some have even developed paper models – all in an attempt to bring back the memory and fun of experiencing this inanimate character into everyday life.
Working in a framework where testing is an integral part of development is perhaps the single, most-important cause of the game's popularity. In typical production, testing is usually the first item on the list that gets cut when schedules are tight. The Portal development team has completely re-thought that process. By testing their game throughout the production process, they were able to fine-tune design and narrative to the point where every step of the Portal journey made intuitive sense to a wide variety of gamers.
The challenge of the future will be capturing the imagination of a new generation of sophisticated web/game users to the point where they feel engaged and entertained in the narrative of your interactive campaign. I always think of the Portal approach when I see companies entrenched in creating something that may not serve the interests of their consumers. And now, hopefully, so will you!