Pacing and Structure in Video Games
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- Where and when certain developments in a game occur is pretty imperative to creating as smooth and enjoyable an experience as possible. In this video I detail some games that have followed structures that have proven succesful in keeping the attention of the player and providing suitable incentive to play on.
Video on 3 Act Structure: • 3 Act Structure - Stor...
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Music used:
Nujabes - Blessing It [Instrumental]
Half Life - Credits theme
Uncharted 3 - Badlands
Zelda Twilight Princess - Faron Woods
Super Meat Boy - Fast Track to Browntown
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World The Game - Cheap Shop.
videos like these are the reason why youtube is still at least somewhat valuable to me. quite refreshing seeing someone talking about specific stuff like this, which is really rare, and something that interests me.
If there's one thing I hate about the AAA video game market today, it's the obsession with including open-world and RPG elements in *everything*. It seems like almost every new GOTY-contender release is another open-world game with RPG elements arbitrarily thrown in to make the game feel like it's actually going somewhere. I like direction in my games; I like being presented with a challenge and figuring out how to overcome it. I rarely enjoy actually exploring, I just like to feel like I'm exploring. I love very designed experiences; I want to experience the game the way the developers intended it to be experienced. Sad to say, most of the big releases recently have left me feeling vastly underwhelmed by the video game market as a whole. There's this completely unfair stigma on linearity that I feel is really holding back the potential of the medium right about now and I truly hope that changes in the near future.
I completely agree that the western video game market has those issues. Japanese developers aren't afraid of making linear games though. Honestly Japanese developers don't seem to be afraid of trying anything, they just make the games they want to make. Just look at Persona 5, Nioh, and Nier: Automata, all GOTY contenders and all of them offer a unique experience. Ni No Kuni 2 is still slated to release this year as well.
That RPG elements really bother me a lot, I want my RPGs to be RPGs, everything game that claim to be an RPG today is just an action/adventure/open world game with basic RPG elements
I love open worlds being pushed to everything. For me that's great. And SOME RPG elements are good too. Like I love how Dishonored has pretty much open ended levels, you have skills you can purchase if you like. I like Witcher 3 and it's side quests (didn't care for the level-based enemy damage tho) and secrets to find in the huge world. Or Metroid and how you need to get new equipment, so on and so on.
There is nothing wrong with linear games, but they end up being much poorer experiences most of the time for me. Only games that have mechanics that require skill (DMC for example) can do these well. Still, games like Uncharted that allow no exploration (in the first 3 games, 4th allows a bit more), are really boring to play.
I disagree with you, sorta. Half Life 2 intro did exactly what it meant to do - showcase daily live under the fascist oppression of Combine. Within around half an hour, you are subjected to propaganda, surveillance, power abuse from cops, random screening/interrogation, police state busting down random apartments, and solidarity of everyday people helping you hide from the police raid.
It's like condensing entirety of 1984 into a short gameplay sequence. This way, when you DO get to fighting, you know EXACTLY why are you fighting the Combine, you immediately hate them.
Similar trick is used in (original) Modern Warfare - not a single word of exposition is spared on denouncing Al-Assad's regime... it doesn't need to. We see it first hand through the introductory sequence, ending with player character being personally killed by Al-Assad. Hell, role of Zakhaev in that entire affair is also basically wordlessly established in that sequence - Zakhaev LITERALLY hands Al-Assad the means to kill the old president.
Of course, that is topic of storytelling/narrative design, not structure, so not really applicable for this video.
@Adam J. Harper The hacker had nothing to do with the changes. By the time it was leaked, they had already scrapped that sequence. It was just too long and boring, just like HL1's intro. They preferred having the player actually walk around and see & feel the oppression, rather than be put on rails looking out a window at it.
Open World...ugh.....
I actually disagree with you on action game pacing. I absolutely loathe the calming sections of DMC4, MGR and other such games that actually have them last a significant amount of time. Especially in games that I'd like to be able to replay relatively quickly, like action games, these sections really hurt.
Pretty much every level in DMC4 is "that one level" for me. It's all long walks, terrible "puzzles" and even more long walks. The combat system is one of my favorites, and I really like most of the bosses, but I still think the game is just terrible because it won't let me play it.
Honestly, if I'm getting tired of playing your game, I'll just stop playing it. I can see why games that focus on a single playthrough would try to pace themselves, but action games generally aren't in that collection.
I feel like Bayonetta did it well. I'm sure it has some parts that let the player ease up a bit, but they're short and Bayo's movement speed and various transformations are fast enough to get them over with in no time at all. DMC4 can just go kill itself, dangling that delicious carrot of a combat system right in front of me but having all of the fights last too short and all of the walks last too long.
Ofcourse, the bloody palace is infinitely more enjoyable, but having to replay the game again for the special edition reminds me of how utterly painful the first playthrough was.
Don't even get me started on having to traverse the same environments again as Dante. I hate that game despite loving the mechanics. I hate it so much and I can't stop playing.
TMTLive Looking back on this video I really hate myself for not expanding on that point. I actually do agree that those parts in DMC4 were dull, I probably should have communicated better that I meant this was simply done as a cheap way to keep changing up the pace, even though they failed miserably.
Surprised you didn't have anything about RE4. Not I can think of anything it specifically would have added (except maybe its use of environment looting as another form of downtime), but it does tend to be the go-to game a lot of critics use when discussing pacing. Great video, although I have to agree with Chris about the opening to Half Life.
***** Agree to that, the pacing in RE4 is incredible as something will always happen every 25ish minutes give or take
The best thing that you can do to keep things fresh is squeeze every valuable fact that your mechanics have. Kinda like Starfox 64, every level has a different structure, different gameplay focus, different goals, different locations. Corneria grabs you by the balls with a really climatic fight against the enemies, there you learn in a safe environment that you should shoot the ships because the will hit you if you dont, then there is the ruined city, that helps you to learn to move around, later one of your buddies needs help, and if you do it fine, he'll still be in the level. Later there are ring-shaped forms in the ground that we will try to go through because its an affordance, and also because the tutorial has you going through rings and the checkpoint is ring-shaped too. And the game will reward us if we pulled of the disguised secondary objects, with a different boss fight, and the ability to chose our route. And not to mention the great and grand amount of variety in the levels, in gameplay, setting, music, scope, context, that it does so effortlessly. Good vidya
Great video, very useful for my game design class. Thanks a lot!
Also, you earn a a suscriber.
Nujabes
Good stuff. Subscribed. I have thought about rhythm/pacing in games a lot lately. One game I think had a brilliant pacing was Arkham Asylum: the balance with all the different activities was really well done, and also all the different parts it had were meaningful and fun to play, not just filler.
Nujabes, fucking good taste.
FIVE DEEZ FOREVER YOU KNOW WE STAY BLESSIN' IT
I have heard waaaaayy too much Nujabes on your videos for it to be a random selection of ambient music. So here's props to your taste my good sir.
Near the end where you said subverting expectations of pacing and structure can create some memorable moments just reminds me of straying from the expected progression path or encountering intentionally difficult bosses in a souls game xD
"Subverting expectations"
This particular phrase on this comment has aged like mayflies.
Looked up "the importance of pacing in games" and was not disappointed.
Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves still is one of my favorite game openings ever. Establish characters, (albeit not seeing them, only hearing their codenames,) gameplay introduction, tense navigation, climactic confrontation, shutdown and retrace your steps, so to speak. So good...
i can simplify this idea even more
call it "Contrasts" - and it works in any field\craft\art\industry
0:55 - I'll have the flesh falling off my bones before anyone convinces me that the intro of Half-Life games is anything more than a fucking chore, there's nothing relaxing about the game just padding out shit without compensation.
Zelda games also are criticized for very slow intros, but at least those games have funny characters and nice world-building to keep you mentally engaged until you get to the action.
Great video, came here from Game Maker's Toolkit. You got a subscriber!
Good pacing is SO important in games. Even in high octane action games.
I disagree. Games don't need to be paced like films. If I'm getting tired of playing the game, i'll take a break. Games are long - i'm going to be taking a break anyway. Why stuff the gameplay with boring filler?
Jason Jackson Because if the game keeps giving you the same thing every time you will eventually get bored of playing it at all. It would be like an arcade game.
Thanatos388 I'm not lamenting variety. I think all games should thoroughly explore the potential in their systems. I'm talking about sections that add nothing to the game and only serve to enhance the world/plot/whatever. A good example of this are the sections in half life 2 where you do nothing but sit and wait for the game to allow you to advance. I don't want to be taking a break from the game WHiLE IM PLAYING THE FUCKING GAME! (side note: arcade games are awesome)
Jason Jackson Yeah, those sections in Half Life 2 are worse then just having cut scenes. I was mostly talking about the slower moments in Uncharted or Resident Evil 4 where you are just running around a low intensity area shooting easy to kill enemies or just collection doodads or platforming moments in Bayonetta and Devil May Cry. The Half Life one was a bad example.
Thanatos388 Lower intensity areas in resi 4 work because health and ammo conservation is top priority, meaning in all combat situations you have to be on your guard, and you also have to have to opportunity to search for resources. I have mixed feelings on the pacing of games like dmc and uncharted, however. While i agree that (most) games can't be one non-stop battle, the platforming in dmc is poorly implemented and honestly has nothing to do with the combat; it might as well be its own game. As for uncharted, lower intensity sections could work if they tested new skills in preparation for the next high intensity section, but as they are they seem to be there for the sake of giving you some breathing room rather than making the most of the game time.
Jason Jackson the narrative rules mentioned in this video are not at all from movies, every single kind of narrative follows these rules, besides, downtime doesn't have to be boring at all, if it is, then that's just a shitty section, it's not that the three act rule doesn't work.
SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUBSCRIBED
It's completely impossible for a game to have pre-designed pacing. Pacing is the timing of a sequence of events. Two problems: the player controls the timing, and the player controls the events. If one or both of these things is not the case, then the game has failed to be truly interactive, and since games must be interactive, then this would not truly be a game: just a film with button presses. Exciting pacing can, and should, be encouraged through design, such as how chess imitates a 3-act structure with the opening, mid-game and end-game sequences. But as long as the player is in control, you cannot guarantee events will pan out to write a good story.
>Uncharted
>mechanics
You posted the video about 21 days later by accident, bro.
Loved Battlefield Bad Co 1 for it's more open ended structure but there's also this catharsis of just looking at the stage before tackling it
you have a strange combination of liking video games, hip hop, and being british. good job.
Big fan of the channel, man. Keep up the good work!
Cool.
Prince of Persia Warrior Within had some really terrible pacing. Mainly due to the unnecessary inclusion of a Zelda over world in a game based around fast paced parkour.
civilwarfare101
Interesting. i'm on the middle of playing the whole trilogy now. I thought the first game was pretty good. It reminded me of uncharted with the climbing sequences and puzzles except that they were more fun and the puzzles were actual puzzles. The combat though repetitive was fluid and satisfying for its time.
Borderlands 2 is perfectly paced
Megaman also does the mechanical buildup with the Wily levels after the robot master levels.
Sebastien Cormier
And then the X series added intro stages and intermissions and started experimenting with story beats in levels.
And then the Zero series expanded on intermissions (actual levels instead of just bosses) and story beats (happening in normal levels), became more objective-based and added hub worlds.
And them the ZX series went full-on Metroidvania, connecting all areas (expansion on Zero 1's hub world idea) and making you reach them yourself.
The Mega Man platformers sure have gone through quite a few changes in their structure...
Great video
cretit to reddit which brought me here
What is that game at 0:30?
Corey Slade The Wonderful 101 from Platinum on the Wii U.
Thank you!
0:19 -> 0:22
What is the name of this game?
Trine
No mention of God of War?
i hate when a game has padding shit just kills the enjoyment factor
Funny, I'd say that Half Life's opening was a disaster of pacing, and it was a bonehead move to replicate that so many times throughout HL2. It's such a disaster of pacing that the speedrun community collectively agreed it's fine to start the speedrun past the tram sequence at the first set of doors into black mesa.
Chris Wagar I wouldn't say its a disaster its just that they didn't think about how annoying a long showy non interactive sequence would be on multiple playthroughs.
Thanatos388 Which is why today we have everyone trying their best to make a long showy non-interactive sequence that is annoying on the first playthrough. Because Half Life showed them they could do it.
I wish I didn't have to deal with half life 2's interactive cutscenes the first time I played the game, I hope I don't have to deal with them again whenever Half Life 3 comes out. Because it was a disaster back then, and it will be a disaster when they inevitably repeat it. No special pleading.
Chris Wagar I enjoyed them the first time. I think everyone has just grown tired of them now like how we've grown tired of CGI filled live action movies that have no compelling plot or characters. But I don;t think you have to worry about Half Life 3. That game is never going to get made. Valve doesn't care about the series anymore. Its only made to showcase technology thats why the games have aged poorly.
Thanatos388 Good point. They seemed so interested in showcasing their engines that the gameplay suffered for it
One thing I despise about story-focused Valve games is that they can trap you or make you walk around a limited area while exposition is being delivered. They do this on purpose, and they think they are awesome for giving us control. But they're really just making the game flow frustrating. This is even worse on repeat play throughs. If you want to create a story, convey it through cut-scenes. But don't try to force gameplay and story together like this, it almost never works.