Endless Games Part II

Ok, so I took a long break from designing games and gaming in general. And now that m back designing games, I thought I might as well finish this topic. Firstly, we have a genre that seems to have been saturated with all the ideas. This genre has been done so many times and in so many ways that it is very hard to expand or even dare to think of any improvement possibilities. But you can carry on reading and decide if anything does make any sense after all. 


THE PHILOSOPHY OF ENDLESS GAMES

Before we dive into the possibilities let's try to figure out why the endless games matter. By the way, if you like game designs then you should definitely read this book by James P. Carse. Unlike finite games, which is driven by a define set of goal and eventually a conclusion to the game, infinite games are played for experience. These endless games have horizon instead of outcomes. Players are looking for an experience rather than a result. One way of looking at it is that the player is playing to die. A game that says you will be killed eventually and that's the only way to end the game. But still people play it. The player is always looking for surprise, or a drama, instead of an ultimate winner. Endless games are like soap operas, where the audience is looking for a twist or a surprise and they don't want it to end. The best way to describe the genre is to think of a progressive gameplay that is stripped down to mere bones. As the Canabalt creator, Adam Saltsman, described the motivation, "I love minimalism in games anyway, but this was a good excuse to push it further. Canabalt uses six shades of gray and one button and is still pretty exciting." 

STORY AND PROGRESSION 

Games have evolved to become a good story telling medium. There are games that have rich story telling, however, endless games aren't that kind. The best way to describe an endless game is like the movie, Groundhog Day. It doesn't matter what you do, everything reset back to the same game. But even in Groundhog Day, we see that Bill Murray doesn't respond the same way to the same problem everyday. And that should be the underlying goal of the game. Just because its an endless game, that does not mean it has to be the same thing over and over. Granted that endless games take their queue from arcade games, having simple game mechanics. However, that doesn't mean the game can't be story driven. For example, endless runner are the best example of showing slow but never ending process of growth. Every run is a learning lesson, every run can lead to a new enemy. Now of-course, there can't be a new enemy every run. But it doesn't have to be the same enemy all the time. The player is always looking for a surprise and an experience. These stories may or may not have linear storyline. They can be about different characters and the world they have to survive in. Like Mario, you have these strong, defined characters. And all of them have a strong back story. Bowser and Mario are never friends, Princess Peach is abducted and Mario is always finding way to save her. But when you play the game, it is about level design and gameplay mechanics. So although, we are still playing a game that doesn't have any specific storyline implemented in the gameplay, but because of an established storyline, we all know why Mario( or the player) is going through all the pain. 

SHOWING THE PROGRESS BETTER

Progress in endless games haven't been explored too much. Yes, you have customisation, yes you have highest score but that's about it. What if the endless games have progression in form of not just difficulty settings but as the game progresses, you get new enemies with different mechanics. I understand that the core idea of such games is to have shorter gameplay sessions, but you can still have those. What if the character progresses with greater abilities and that results to new enemies. This will let the players experience something new and they will play it, looking forward to new challenges. Again, what better example than Mario. You have defined levels and every level teaches you a mechanics and when you clear it, it test you with a boss fight. Then the whole thing repeats again with new mechanics. I understand that this might stray away from the original idea of minimalism, but we are talking about expanding the game. So in that regards, I think it is acceptable. Progression in endless runners can be considered as candy crush take on the match 3 gameplay.  

DAILY GOALS/BRANCHING

One thing that endless games do best is achievements. Specially games like jetpack joyride. They have daily goals and overall achievement system that keeps the player interested all the time. But what if we use daily goals and side missions to expand on game mechanics. What if the game has a storyline that explains the enemies. Those storylines are a part of endless games. It introduces different worlds. And as you play those side missions, with the visual feedback, players get to understand the world of those enemies. Maybe even take a break from the repetitive gameplay and explore other, or certain aspects of, game mechanics. This way daily goals won't be just an aid to the usual grind but also a good reason/opportunity to showcase different game mechanics. 

CONTROLS AND MECHANICS

Yes, endless runner, by its name, a runner. But that's not exactly a justifiable definition. In my opinion, endless runners are games that progress all the time. There isn't going back, rather a game that keeps moving forward. This means that by introducing new game mechanics, we can not only let the player just run but keep them moving forward. Temple run is basically, Indiana Jones running for his life. Having said that Indiana Jones was not always running, he was jumping, balancing, stopping only to escape his death. That is what we need to do more. Now while we talk about all these, next obvious question will be, then what about the pacing of the game? Can we still maintain the rhythm of the game? This is where the game design skills come in. Once, we understand what we want, game pacing can be achieved with iteration and polishing. 

PROGRESSIVE VS EMERGENT GAMEPLAY

This last point is very abstract, or maybe even bizarre, but lets just explore it anyway. So progressive gameplay is gameplay that has level designs or a story structure and everything happens in a linear progressive fashion, e.g. Mario or any game with story line etc. Emergent gameplay is when you define a set of rules and the game evolves as the player performs the actions based on those rules. The simple way of explaining emergent gameplay is chess.  
What if we take this theory even further. What if we have a gameplay that is kind of hybrid of these two. Say, your game has a structure but as the player is given an ability, it changes the gameplay to something different. Those abilities are randomly given and the player is given a choice to pick it or leave it. With each selection, the player is presented with a gameplay that supports/works with that ability. The possibilities and the combinations will make that game deep and the scope of the game can become huge. 

CONCLUSION

The idea of this post is to explore and discuss the possibilities that hasn't been talked about. I'm not saying any of these would make any sense or if that would change the genre to something else. But personally, I no longer play any endless runner because there isn't anything new happening in that genre anymore. Having said that I strongly feel that this genre has a lot to offer than just a cloning of already said games in the last post. 

Endless Games Part I

Endless runner has been a huge success on mobile. I can't think of any other platform that could be more fitting for endless runners, than mobile phones. It is easy to learn and it is endless. But how far can you take a simple mechanism? Will endless runner always be like this? Can there be more possibilities of how to improve the already perfect game genre? Lets try to explore the idea.

Before we start talking about what can be done, lets break this article into two parts. First part, we will talk about what are the milestones, according to me, in this genre and then we'll see what are the possibilities.

Helicopter Game by David McCandless (1999/2000)

David McCandless and a programmer friend created the first endless game. Helicopter game introduced a gameplay that is now the core of any endless runner these days. Endless runner has three distinctive features, 1. very basic controls, usually a tap/click/swipe. 2. The game gradually increases the difficulty level but never ends. 3. You score based on how far you can go.
They made the game within days. David played and wrote a lot about games, so he had an idea what addictive gameplay can be.

Canabalt (August 31, 2009)

If David McCandless' Helicopter Game created the first endless game, Canabalt created the first endless runner. The game is 2d parkour style runner. After 10 year since Helicopter, Canabalt truly understood the 'fun' part of the game mechanics. Although, Canabalt creator, Adam Saltsman, never credited Helicopter game, as his influence. But you can see the similarities with the gameplay. Here's what he said:
"Adam: Canabalt was created for the Experimental Gameplay Project, a cool monthly activity organized by some of the greatest minds in indie games. The idea is you have seven days to create a game around a specific theme; the month that I made Canabalt, the theme was ‘bare minimum’, which had a big impact on the game.
I love minimalism in games anyway, but this was a good excuse to push it further. Canabalt uses six shades of gray and one button and is still pretty exciting. A shotgun list of influences would include Super Mario Bros, Sonic the Hedgehog, District 9, District B13, Mirror’s Edge, Half-Life 2, and Flashback."

Lane splitter(Dec 7 2010):

This is probably the first endless game on iTunes, that I played. It had everything awesome about it. It was made by people who were trying to create this revolutionary game engine called Project Offset. AMD bought the company and basically used the team as guinea pigs to test their graphic cards. So the team quit and made this awesome game called Lane Splitter.
Lane splitter is about a biker on a highway. The game uses gyroscope, to move the bike across different lanes, while avoiding the cars. This game was not only one of the first of its kind,  but it was a very polished game.

Temple run(Aug 4, 2011)

Now this game took everyone by storm. This is the game that does give credit to Canabalt, as its influence. Temple run showed people what an endless runner game would look like in the near future. Endless runner is all about scoring. And with the Indiana Jones theme, this somehow became the first truly addictive game.

Jetpack joyride (Sept 1, 2011)

This game credits Canabalt and helicopter game as its influence. This game is a perfect example of how deep an endless runner can be. It is a very polished game with loads of features. Jetpack joyride has one of the most creative ideas in the game. For an endless runner, I have yet to see a game that implements features to that perfection.

Subway surfer (May 23, 2012)

Although this game has taken the queue from temple run, and other in the ilk, it showed how easing the difficulty level and having great visuals can be an effective approach as well. With the long list of characters, Subway surfer showed the importance of character/customization to unlock.

Punch quest (Oct 25, 2012)

Now this indie game needs to be talked about more than it has been. On the surface, it is an action packed endless runner. But if you dig deep, they have incorporated one of the most interesting ideas as far as the controls goes. Moving forward is also punch, jumping is also upper cut or smash and blocking is either both buttons or hold. In a world where every feature has its separate button, punch quest incorporated its features in a smart and neat way. While, other endless runners rely on a menu to upgrade the power-ups, Punch quest automates this whole process. This way nothing comes between you and ass-kicking actions in the game. This games flows like milk, and with awesome retro graphics, this game should be appreciated a lot more than it is.

Smash hit (Feb 25, 2014)

Last game in my list has opened my eyes to the possibilities of endless games. While everyone is busy creating clones of temple run and helicopter game, Smash hit took a different route. It is the single most innovative game, since helicopter game, that has come out in recent years. All you have to do is tap to break the glass, coming your way, that's it. And boy is it good! The game totally abandons the concept of character customization, power ups etc. You have to play it to really appreciate it's concept.

That ends up our part one of endless games. Although, I didn't get to talk a lot about game mechanics, however, one has to play these games to truly understand the mechanics. There are lots of endless games these days, some with great ideas. However, these games have been the milestones in the endless runner genre, in my opinion. And since, mobile games have been all about xerox, after xerox. These games are welcomed more, since they improve the genre even further.