Why do not work on video games work?

March 22, 2021 Office

Why do not work on video games work?

In the heading "Direct text" The authors express exclusively their own opinion, which may not coincide with the opinion of the editorial office (or may coincide). They are free to do it as they like and in any format convenient for themselves. Everything is possible here.

Each time I read the news that the next hillock based on video games tore off the unprecedented cash register, something dies inside me. The sensations are about the same as from watching a stupid film adaptation of your favorite franchise, but even more painfully, because a board game costs twenty tickets in a movie. And after the purchase, she is not forgotten as a nightmare, but remains on your shelf, collecting dust and recalling that at some point in life you turned the wrong way.

I am slightly dramatized, but the essence of this does not change: the desktop adaptations of the video game in the vast majority of cases do not cost their money at all. Experienced table holders know this very well, but fans of video games, pioneers, on which publishers profit, do not always understand what they are signed for. And if you are one of them, then I hope this text will save you from potential disappointment. I outlined the three main reasons why I hastily investing in the huts based on video games is a risky idea, especially if you are just starting to get used to a hobby.

The tools of board games are tough limited

The beauty of the video game is that they interact with the player (and the player – with them) many different ways at the same time: in science it is called "multimedia". Screen graphics, sound in headphones, voice chat through a microphone, text, entering commands from the keyboard and/or mouse, vibration of the gamepad, steering wheel or joystick – during the game we often perceive and transmit information at once through several channels. Moreover, these channels have so many possible combinations that in the hands of the developers they develop into completely dissimilar systems that give the audience a completely different experience. For example, a conditional network shooter, where the player looks at the surrounding world through the eyes of the character, requires a good reaction, accuracy and dexterity. And in 4x strategies, you can slowly study the map from a bird’s height, move units, delve into the trees of research … Even a person who has first sat down behind a computer will hardly confuse them.

Sometimes the tables combine techniques from different mediums. In the detective "Place of crime" A special application for a smartphone scans cards and allows you to explore locations in augmented reality mode

Table games, by virtue of their analogue nature, are deprived of such luxury. They are forced to communicate with the user in a completely different language: with the help of cards, figures, cubes and chips – that is, material components that can be touched. Of course, sometimes the developers introduce digital elements like special companions in the formula, but tactility still remains a key difference between board games from computer. It is for this reason that some aspects of the video game are either poorly adapted to the desktop format or are not amenable in principle. After all, gamemeracies have to think not only over mechanics, but also how to realize them in the form of cardboard, wood and plastic – and this imposes tangible restrictions.

For example, Resident Evil 2 makes the player feel vulnerable with a fixed camera and limited viewing angles, but there is not even the concept of “camera” in the hilies, and without it and the horror turns out so -so. Or take it Starcraft – Her adaptation changed the genre to a step -by -step strategy. Why? Because in a desktop RTS of the scale where players need to act in real time, the race for the maximum APM (number of actions per minute) would have turned into a non -granular mess. Imagine: everyone has one field, everyone constantly stretches to him with their hands, move the mountains of figures back and forth and physically interfere with each other. Due to such nuances, it is more logical to adjust the time-tested desktop mechanics for a particular franchise to the gamed designers than to insert video game to where they definitely will not take root.

Xcom: The Board Game And "Adrenalin" They are good in that they borrow only the most important features of computer sources and do not try to adapt everything to the desktop format. The first convincingly transfers the sensation from the management of the base (let it and without battles), and the second-the voltage and speed of the art arena in the spirit Quake

But, let's say, the developers committed the impossible: they painstakingly adapted everything to the unified mechanics of the source, thought out the necessary components, prescribed the rules – and everything seems to be done as it should. Then another problem arises: human perception is extremely sensitive to the load. After spending time behind video games, we, as a rule, do not notice (or do not think) how much “behind the sciences”: scripts, behavior of AI, mathematical calculations, procedural generation of locations or Luta – in a word, for everything related to the functioning of the mechanic , the car answers. But in the hilies, this ungrateful work lies entirely on the shoulders of the players themselves. Sometimes he even brings some pleasure, but the authors should at least overdo it a little with the volume of rules and the “moving details”, as the gameplay from entertainment turns into work.

In the original Dark Souls It is not a pity to die many times in a row on the same boss: after a loading screen, five seconds can be revived by the fire and try again. In the table version, after each death, you need to manually return the enemies to places and “reboot” the location, and the more you die (and this, for a second, an important part of the source), the more time you spend on tedious routine. Another example is a relatively recent adaptation Crusader Kings. She is already considered one of the simplest sandboxes Paradox Interactive , But the authors of the board game had to squeeze it to the size of the matchbox – otherwise the players would drown in information that is usually hidden in several dozen tables. And people still complain that even in a very cut -out form it turned out too confusing.

Heavy sweatshirts like Fire in the lake About the war in Vietnam or Pax Pamir About Afghanistan the times of the "big game" also has its own audience, just much more niche. And the products for licenses, whatever one may say, are focused on the mass market

In other words, designers often have to sacrifice the fullness of the game experience of the dimensions for the sake of our comfort. In addition, purely economic nuances play an important role here: cardboard, plastic and (especially) wood cost money, so publishers need to reckon with the realities of the market. The volume of the contents of the box directly affects the number of components and the cost of production, and the price tag is already added up from them. No matter how good the game turns out, what's the point in it, if it turns out to be not affordable for the audience? It remains to look for compromises. Ruler Arkham Horror Files From the publisher Fantasy Flight Games there is almost a dozen projects, and each uses different components depending on the scale of the gameplay. In chamber "Mansions of madness" a lot of high -quality plastic figures, in "Horror Archam" , where the action is transferred to the whole city, their role is played by cardboard chips on the stands. And in his card version there are no stands – plastic would raise the price of a tiny game above the desired bar.

IN "Gloomhaven. Gloomy harbor " , which has been holding the title of Haste number one according to the version for several years BoardgameGeek , The heroes have plastic figures, and the hordes of monsters have cardboard chips. Otherwise, the game would be absurdly expensive

Default board games are designed for multiplayer

Periodically, projects oriented specifically on one player appear on the market, but this is rather an exception to the rule: a single -user segment in the desktop industry is quite weakly developed. In most cases, it is necessary to collect a company of at least two people, and more often – three or four. This is the same feature of a medium as tactfulness: inviting someone to play in the Sooper, we conclude a social contract with them and share emotional experience. Thanks to this, board games serve as a great way to get acquainted with new people or get to know old friends better.

Here are only some emotions are revealed much brighter if you experience them alone – this will be confirmed by anyone who at least once in a life has passed a magnificent plot video game. God of War, The Last of Us, Disco Elysium – It is not important. When we are alone and nothing distracts from the process, the effect of immersion intensifies: we better imbue the atmosphere, notice small details, pay attention to the plot, characters, individual mechanics. In short, we get much more recoil. And in the case of board games, it’s enough just to raise your eyes off the field and see that living people are sitting nearby – and that’s all, the illusion is instantly dissipated. Moreover, in the process you will probably have to communicate with them, fight, discuss plans, give beer from the refrigerator … In general, there is no question of any immersion. Yes, if desired, you can play one in some tables: sometimes the developers prescribe special rules for this or include some simple AI, tied to cards in the game. But you will get an experience completely different, and it is not a fact that it will be better. Here you have to choose the smaller of two evils.

Desktop Bloodborne It quite successfully conveys the sensations from the battles, but it is simply not possible to recreate Yarnaam's mood – and many fell in love with the game precisely for the entourage

The presence of other people also affects less obvious nuances: for example, dynamics. We can enjoy video games at the pace at which we are convenient, and we take it as a given. I wanted to sit half an hour after work? Easily. There is a mood to spend in Breath of the Wild All weekend? Easy to. You need to leave to brew tea, grow a son and plant a tree? Turn on and do business, no one will rush. In board games, you can forget about all this, because not only you are spending time on them, but also two or three people who are not particularly fun to wait until you reflect on the next move for fifteen minutes. And you, in turn, are not particularly fun to wait until someone else is like it-the so-called "Dautima" arises. Moreover, the time of downtime is usually directly proportional to the number of players: it may sound stupid, but the more people are at the table, the less they play. This is an absolutely natural pattern, and sometimes it is able to seriously harm the pace of gameplay, especially if we talk about the adaptations of the action. Carry out 20Bet Casino multi -stage combo in the desktop Devil May Cry (yes, it exists) Not so cool when you can think about five minutes on the composition of the composition. GEARS of WAR And Doom – shooters completely different in speed – in a desktop format they lose the whole personality.

Well, of course, one cannot but say about the narrative. With the narrative in board games, everything is not very cool – often even in those that promote the plot as one of the main chips. Firstly, studios rarely have enough budget to hire professional screenwriters, and this greatly affects the quality of literary texts. Secondly, in order for these texts to fit in a box with a game, even in a separate book, at least on cards, they must be made short-and telling a distinct story with a hard limit to words is not easy. Now add to these production difficulties the fact that the script should work for an entire company, not one person. It is necessary to make it as short, simple and affordable so that he does not take too much time: in the end, not all players are interested in the narrative – some simply suffer him to get to the gameplay as soon as possible.

On the other hand, the tables are still able to tell bright stories – they just arise organically, during the game. Full party c Twilight Imperium It will easily take ten hours, but you will remember it for a long time

Publishers are not shy about robbing their own audience

Perhaps the key argument against investments in the huts based on video games is Kickstarter, where these projects mainly live. And the matter here is not at all the risk of being deceived (this just happens infrequently), but in a completely impudent, manipulative attitude towards the consumer. After all, publishers are not fools: they realize that a license product is an extremely easy way to cut money in an impressionable public. You just need to lift it with something grandiose, put dust in the eyes so that she does not pay attention to mediocre game design and dubious portfolio of developers. As a rule, this is achieved by a ton of beautiful, but meaninglessly expensive figures. Or exclusive additions that will not appear on retail sale: in the end, nothing burns a hole in the wallet, like a missed benefit syndrome.

Take a look at the recent campaign to raise funds for a desktop Bloodborne from Cmon : the authors asked $ 200,000, but received $ 4 million in less than twenty minutes. Together with the basic box, they kindly offer to take six additions, each of which costs like a separate sweatshirt – and takes about the same room. In doubt whether it is worth spending a rather impressive amount on content for a game that has not yet been released? It is fair, but there will be no second chance: in the future, exclusives will have to be bought out of the hands of the exorbitant road, so either now or never. The authors of the board games on Kickstarter do not even try to hide how brazenly they squeeze profit from customers, because the scheme works: mice cry and stake, but continue to bite a metaphorical cactus. And although Bloodborne, judging by the first reviews, turned out to be surprisingly good a game, encourage such a predatory business practice-a dubious undertaking. It is no different from aggressive microtransactions, cut a video game into a million DLC and other innocent pranks, for which we love AAA-Industry.

Studio SteamForged Games acquired a bad reputation as a supplier of the most controversial and at the same time high -profile license games. Dark Souls, Resident Evil, Horizon Zero Dawn, And soon they will join them and Monster Hunter..

Of course, I do not condemn those who invest in $ 250-350 in such events: adults can dispose of their finances as if you want. In addition, miniatures in such projects are usually really cool: if you paint them and put them on a shelf, then no one will even guess that this is not an official merchae, but only a component of the table. The problem is that the success of expensive "kikstarters" sends a teletter message to publishers from time to time. The fees confirm that the main thing is to take care of a beautiful wrapping, because not a first -class game design is sold in famous franchises, but a brand and tons of plastic, without which it would be easy to do with. Licenses owners do not care about such things: they see worthy numbers and meekly give their IP to be torn to pieces.

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