Crisp, clean gun-play. Combos ending in ultimate abilities. Exploring the vast expanses of a rich open world.
I haven’t said the name of a single game, yet you’ve already thought of one, maybe a couple of games that are synonymous with each statement. We’ve been blessed with multiple titles that elicit vivid imagery of the above, yet we could also name many, many titles that fall short of achieving those highs.
What is the difference between the greats and the not-so-greats?
Priorities. Specifically, what mechanics and systems a game chooses to raise above the rest.
Let’s revisit those games that you had thought of when I said the opening line. Is a core identity reinforced by the game’s primary mechanic or system? There’s a very good chance that it does, and it’s certainly not by mistake.
Games fulfill fantasies that people aren’t normally able to experience because the fantasy in question is either too inconvenient or too impossible to experience. The key aspect in that statement is a fantasy; singular. Once you try to start checking off multiple fantasies, you begin to lose the potency of those you’ve already created.
However, that’s not to say that a game can’t do multiple things. Many games are able to successfully incorporate a multitude of rich, well-developed aspects. The difference is in what fantasies are being contributed to. Many sports game are able to incorporate being the star athlete making all of the plays in addition to managing and creating the team of athletes. The key detail is that both are in the same game because they contribute to a single sports-based fantasy.
All of this is to say that the mechanics and systems that a game consists of all need to contribute to and elevate a single core fantasy.
Easier said than done though. Let’s get into it.
Great Games Prioritize One Fantasy
If a game is a collection of mechanics and systems, then all of those mechanics and systems need to be in service of one fantasy.
Mario Kart? Go-karting.
Counter-Strike? Bomb planting/defusal.
Baldur’s Gate 3? Romancing EVERYONE.
Every memorable game holds one fantasy or concept at their core. This isn’t just a tenet of video games, but games as a whole.
Sports are a clear cut example. Every single sport is built with a few simple rules (mechanics). Basketball is about putting a ball through an elevated hoop, hockey is putting a puck in a net, and racing is about crossing the finish line. All of these are the mechanics that feed into the fantasy of winning.
These types of games have simple and straightforward mechanics because the real depth lay in the strategies and equipment used to play such games. But we live in more complex times, and as such our ability to understand the core rules of a game have expanded. This means that modern games can invest more time into creating additional systems or mechanics that expand and enhance the core fantasy.
All of the titles I listed at the start are more complex than their core fantasy. Mario Kart is a great example, because even though we might think of all the mechanics it provides as just go-karting, there is a lot you could strip away without losing the go-karting core. Specifically, the game has dynamic race tracks, unique items, and kart/bike modifications that alter the way the game plays. These aren’t core, or even required, to experience go-karting but they enhance and expand the core fantasy.
Some times, you don’t even need to expand the core experience. People are paying $33 CAD (as of the time of writing this article) to play a video game where you powerwash random environments and objects. It’s very likely that you could look online, rent a powerwashing unit, and powerwash something in real life for around the exact same price.
This isn’t to say that Powerwashing Simulator is automatically great, more-so that as long as you keep and reinforce the core fantasy you can make a game out of anything.
When you make a game, you have to identify what fantasy you are enabling the player to experience. This fantasy needs to be both enhanced and reinforced by the mechanics and systems you devise in order to make it abundantly clear that this is what your game is about. This is the fantasy you will experience by playing this game.
If you fail to do so, then your game could still be considered great, but many might wonder what the point to playing it was. Or more likely than not, your game won’t even be considered by most because it lacks an identity.
Dictating an Identity
A game develops a distinct identity by creating the mechanics and systems that foster new ways of thinking. It’s similar to servicing a core fantasy, but an identity is something that is completely unique to the game itself.
This identity is where mechanics and systems that aren’t traditionally seen as being apart of the core fantasy are important. Servicing the fantasy is paramount, but creating an identity is what brings games that much closer to greatness.
Destiny is a PvE FPS series that combines gun-play with strange alien environments. If it was just that, then the franchise wouldn’t have lasted for eleven years. What set it apart was the vastness, depth, and ingenuity that reinforced both the gun-play and the worlds the game presented. While it did take time to flesh out and juice up each aspect to where they are today, Bungie (Destiny’s developer) has created an interwoven power fantasy that no other game has come close to.
Or if shooters aren’t your cup of tea, consider Grand Theft Auto V. The open world sandbox seemingly defies my arguments by being a game that encapsulates so much, but funnily enough, that is it’s fantasy. GTA V’s core fantasy is being able to do anything you would ever want to do as an affluent resident of a fictionalized southern California. Whether you drive a Hummer or a sedan, wear clothes or not, or own a luxury apartment or a dumpy townhouse, your playstyle will be slightly different than everyone else. GTA V’s identity is that it allows you to create an identity for yourself.
This is where determining what identity you want to create gets tricky.
Whereas a core fantasy aims to meet a player’s expectations before and while they play the game, an identity aims to create new expectations that only it can provide. You aren’t aiming to create the best overall first person shooter, you’re aiming to be the only first person shooter that can create the type of gameplay for a specific group of people.
Novices often think that this means completely innovating from the ground up, investing time and effort into finding the next big thing. In reality, it means starting with a common idea and searching for a new way of implementing it.
Mario Kart and Forza are both racing games at their core. However, both create unique mechanics and systems that service their identity. Mario Kart is cartoony, zany, and draws heavily on the Mario IP to create fun obstacles for the racers to manage. Forza delves heavily into the real world, quantifying forces and specifications that affect the player’s ability to drive based on real world physics.
It’s the synergy between these different mechanics and systems that creates two unique takes on a racing game. These mechanics and systems need to be friction-less in order to significantly contribute to each other. When two systems are fundamentally at odds with each other, you can begin to cause dissonance within the player.
While you have a bit of leeway most of the time, most genres won’t let you get away with so much dissonance though. If your systems get out of hand, you might find yourself making a fractured game of many lukewarm fantasies rather than one amazing fantasy with many supporting ideas.
One Whole Game vs One Fractured Entity
When you think of your favourite game, you can probably name or describe the fantasy that makes it your favourite. And if others name the same thing, then the game probably has a well-established identity.
However, some times (for better or for worse) games can develop multiple aspects that wind up with wholly separate communities around them. Sometimes they can grow to be a negative influence on the game, like weapon skins for Counter-Strike, or other times they can bolster your game and keep it going. As an example of both, mod development rides the fine line between positive and negative. Mods that are meant to cheat against others are universally abhorred, while those meant to alter game-play in a single player environment are lauded and celebrated.
Ultimately, good and bad are public perceptions. You as the developer can make the game you want, but the community will determine what aspects they want to adopt. It’s up to you whether you lean into it, or try and keep it subdued.
As a game developer, you have to know what your game is trying to achieve. Like I outlined last week, you can make a game for any reason, but just make sure that reason informs you of what you’re trying to achieve.
Consider whether adding a mechanic or system adds to the core fantasy or begins to drag the game into a different direction. If you are focused on your core fantasy, then it should be easy to jettison anything that doesn’t fit.
However, maybe the new mechanic or system is extremely enticing. So much so that you wonder whether your core fantasy should even still be the core fantasy.
It’s a conundrum, but one you can reason your way out of. Remember that you are trying to present one unified core fantasy. A mechanic or system that doesn’t mesh well with the rest of the game might be at odds with your core fantasy, but what if you changed the core fantasy.
What have you already made that could fit within a different core fantasy? Is there a broader fantasy that you’re now able to achieve because of this new addition? What changes if you change the core fantasy?
At the end of the day, if a mechanic or system doesn’t reinforce or add to a core fantasy but still contributes in a meaningful way, who is going to tell you no? I certainly won’t. I write these articles as guidelines, not hard rules to abide by.
Every great game showcases a well-crafted core fantasy and a variety of mechanics and systems meant to elevate that fantasy. But there are no limits or restrictions as to what reinforcing actually means. Those are determined by both you (the developer) and the players that engage with your game. Keeping the opinions of both as your game’s foundation is paramount to creating a great game.
After all, a great game is only great because enough people start referring to it as such.
Outro
Let’s recap.
A game is considered great when it successfully does three things:
It encapsulates and succinctly presents a core fantasy.
All mechanics and systems either reinforce or add a new dynamic to that core fantasy.
Both the players and developers are able to assert and understand the unique identity that only that game has.
It isn’t an exhaustive list, but these three criteria are always present in any game that can be thought of as “great.” Hopefully you’re able to apply these criteria to your games and achieve the recognition you deserve.
What criteria do you look for before saying a game is great? Let me know in the comments or @ me in notes!
In the meantime, have an excellent week!
Stay introspective,
- Adam
Kind of the correlates with your points, but I would've added "strong and unified vision" from developers.
On multiple occasions I saw how different people developing the greatest game ever ended up ruining it by not having the same vision and objectives. As long as everybody have the same understanding of the fantasy that the game is trying to fulfill and move in the same direction, then it's going to be something worthwhile