Author | Lightnews

Willa Harlow Ross @willaharlowross.bsky.social · 1d

Hard to think of many popular modern games that DON'T add too many mechanics. If the choices available to the player don't involve meaningful trade-offs and risks and losses, games lose the ability to establish tone and emotional engagement via mechanical interaction. Which you'd think is the point!

Willa Harlow Ross @willaharlowross.bsky.social · 1d

Single-player video games should generally have far fewer mechanics. Having a lot of mechanics should be considered a super risky thing for a game to do, or a sign that the game is effectively offloading design work to players, but it's the widely assumed correct approach by both players and devs.

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Willa Harlow Ross @willaharlowross.bsky.social · 14d

But then you also get those unlockable major modes, and the fact that they're unlockable signposts them as optional/lower-value.

All of this is very frustrating to me. Players have been effectively conditioned for decades to see having their comfort zone directly challenged as a game's fault.

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Willa Harlow Ross @willaharlowross.bsky.social · 14d

Yeah. I think a lot of this derives from a real fear of openly challenging players and suggesting that they're not getting a definitive experience (or even AS definitive experience) because a lot of players will turn on devs for a perceived slight to their comfort zone. It's a vicious cycle.

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Willa Harlow Ross @willaharlowross.bsky.social · 16d

Right answer www.youtube.com/watch?v=jymD...

BLAU (Mario Is Missing Yoshi noise)

YouTube video by calzone cave

www.youtube.com

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Willa Harlow Ross @willaharlowross.bsky.social · 16d

I wish there was a little more willingness in games with different modes to heavily direct players towards the most significant, thoughtfully crafted, or intended options for experiences. I think it evinces a discomfort with declaring one piece of content better than others. Get heavy-handed, even!

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Willa Harlow Ross @willaharlowross.bsky.social · 17d

(I like 3 tbc)

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Willa Harlow Ross @willaharlowross.bsky.social · 17d

Which version

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Willa Harlow Ross @willaharlowross.bsky.social · 17d

Definitely sympathetic to the appeals of a sandbox, but I tend to think it takes way, WAY more effort to make something aesthetically valuable and design-effective as it gets sandboxier. It can still have lots of appeal on a toy level but it’s extremely hard not to make the game elements suffer.

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Willa Harlow Ross @willaharlowross.bsky.social · 17d

I think it’d be easier for me to get on board with that messy open level design if I hadn’t seen it done better in other 2D platformers like Sonic Mania. In 3 there’s just too many times when a wrong turn kills momentum or results in a duller route.

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Willa Harlow Ross @willaharlowross.bsky.social · 17d

I can enjoy Zelda style adventure structure but there’s a very thin band of games I think actually do it well, so seems like 2 360 is the way to go. Thanks!!

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Willa Harlow Ross @willaharlowross.bsky.social · 18d

Levels in general are quite a ways less tightly designed, the whole thing feels like a sprawl of mostly-very-good ideas that could have been pared down into two or three much better SMB1-sized games.

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Willa Harlow Ross @willaharlowross.bsky.social · 18d

My issue with 3 is that there are really, REALLY high highs, but the sense of a meaningfully escalating, deliberately designed adventure kind of gets tanked by the open level structure and power-ups. e.g. way too many instances where I'm invited to skip levels that are (or might have been) fun.

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Willa Harlow Ross @willaharlowross.bsky.social · 18d

I'm better than I ever have been, actually!! I hope you're doing well too :)

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Willa Harlow Ross @willaharlowross.bsky.social · 18d

As someone who’s meant to get into his work but generally doesn’t dabble in multiplayer, should I start with Ninja Gaiden? 2 360?

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Willa Harlow Ross @willaharlowross.bsky.social · 19d

lfgggggggggg!!!!

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Willa Harlow Ross @willaharlowross.bsky.social · 19d

I'd 100% go to the mattresses on this one

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Willa Harlow Ross @willaharlowross.bsky.social · 23d

(I’m probably not going to play Silksong until all major dlc for it has come out)

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Willa Harlow Ross @willaharlowross.bsky.social · 23d

I guess I’m just gonna head up to that formerly sealed door and finish things up that way. Probably gonna fucking stomp whatever the final boss is after what I’ve done and it’ll feel anticlimactic, which would be disappointing, but the game lets you get pretty powerful. We’ll see!

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Willa Harlow Ross @willaharlowross.bsky.social · 23d

But I also can’t escape that it feels that I’m being asked to engage with this game in a COMPLETELY different way than the rest of this playthrough, and that doesn’t feel particularly cohesive or engaging to me. It’s a major quest/content, but it feels disjointed in a very unappealing way.

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Willa Harlow Ross @willaharlowross.bsky.social · 23d

Part of it might be because the game is already tapped out as far as my excitement to discover its mechanics goes. Part of it might be that, god help me, the combat just isn’t THAT good. If HOLLOW KNIGHT was exclusively focused on combat — a very boss-rushy game let’s say — I think I’d feel that way

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Willa Harlow Ross @willaharlowross.bsky.social · 23d

I’d generally describe the art and narrative and tone as very strong, the exploration/questing/item elements as okay, the movement as okay, and the combat, particularly with bosses, as really good. Theoretically, this would emphasize the game’s best element. So why do I feel so hesitant to do it?

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Willa Harlow Ross @willaharlowross.bsky.social · 23d

Playing HOLLOW KNIGHT, getting pretty much all the items and beating all the bosses outside the endgame, all DLC EXCEPT the final, ultra-extended pantheon, and deciding whether to go ahead and attempt that pantheon (would take weeks of practice) is really making me contemplate this game’ merits are.

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Reposted by Willa Harlow Ross

Gentleman Doofus @gentledoofus.bsky.social · 23d

Folks, we're receiving new updates on this story as it breaks. Apparently, and I can't believe I'm hearing this, the new TRON movie has underperformed at the box office.

Gentleman Doofus @gentledoofus.bsky.social · 28d

*touches ear piece* The news desk is receiving shocking reports that the new TRON movie is visually slick and has a cool score but is narratively unsatisfying. Our entire team is on the scene to analyze this breaking news.

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Willa Harlow Ross @willaharlowross.bsky.social · 24d

(I do think that there's some people who are preternaturally skilled at games, so much so that you almost can't develop something that's dynamically engaging AND meaningfully challenging/exciting, and those people basically have nowhere to go but competitive games [I'm not actually one of them].)

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