Occult Game Design: An
Initiation into Secrets and Mysteries
Speaker: Jeff Howard (Game/Narrative Professor – Dakota
State University)
--
'The best secrets are not yet made.'
Introduction:
The
‘Cursed Pokemon Cartridge’ -> Punish player for hacking the ROM.
The Ultimate Easter Egg
1)
An apparently arbitrary action
2)
Done w/ a strange set of action at the right
time at the right place
3)
It unlocks a secret world
a.
A world beyond the world
4)
‘Occult game Design’ does not =
magic/mystical/esoteric
a.
Occult = secret, hidden
i.
Easter eggs deepen world building
ii.
Ex: The book, ‘Ready Player One’
b.
Mystery = mystes = ‘one who has been initiated’
c.
Mystes = myein = ‘to close, to shut’
d.
Initiation
Cryptic Mechanics Resonate w/ Narrative Themes
1)
Hidden control systems/subsystems
2)
Obscure goals/quests
3)
Puzzling control schemes
4)
Obscure range of actions
Obscure Mechanics: Player action w/ uncertain effect(s) on
variables w/ uncertain effect(s) on narrative.
1)
Mysterious lore resonates w/ obscure mechanics
2)
Recursive unlocking
a.
Chris Pruett: get a key and backtrack to unlock
a door to another key and backtrack…
b.
Gameplay secret unlocks narrative secret unlocks
gameplay secret unlocks narrative…
Puzzling Control Schemes to Cryptic Objectives
1)
Counter intuitive
2)
Uncertain range of actions (Adventure!)
a.
Player gets excitement from possibilities
Hidden Locations: Not broad, but ‘dense’
1)
Keep spatial relationships of
locations/characters/events concurrent
2)
Ex: Wizardry
4
Hidden Events: Deepen meaning to locations normally played
through
1)
These events are time and place triggered
Cult Classics -> surreal, strange, disorienting (surreal
does not equal random!)
Puzzles are symbolic w/ player gaining understanding of the
world.
Sometimes, apparent player attraction to ‘horror’ is a
‘desire for initiation’
1)
Horror -> put the player into darkness and
leave them in the dark
2)
Initiation -> put the player into darkness
and lead them to the light
Howards Law:
- Power (P) is directly proportional to
Innosence (I) times Simplicity (S) with some constant value (K)
- K*P = I*S
Initiates will protect and communicate the mystery to other
initiate-hopefuls.
(Questions)
What is the best practice for forming narrative things?
Have
solid world-building.
Do you feel that horror is the best genre for mystery?
Horror
gives a head start, but it crosses genre boundary.
Parting words to the audience?
The
level design mantra is ‘density’; be consistently ‘dense’! But use downtime to make design points
apparent to the player.
