Feelz overrule balanced and fair systems. People have fond memories of old games because they were too young and noob gamers to notice how unbalanced their systems were and how corny the writing. Take Fallout for example. You aren't solving any complex problems, but you see the animation of the gun firing, you target a body part, you hear the sound, and the gecko is gibbed. You get to feel as if you just killed a monster, and that's what matters. A story is imprinted in your brain - you fought a wild animal and killed it with a gun. It was thrilling.
We hunt for those kind of moments in games. I remember playing Thief: TDP, another great example - you are not doing anything complex again - watching your light indicator and listening for footsteps. But you as a living playing person are watching and listening, and you are larping your character's watching and listening. You press and hold the right mouse button and you hear the lockpicks clicking inside the keyhole. You might just be holding down a mouse button, and swapping lockpicks now and then to progress the process, but you feel like a master thief
I remember you were a fan of KCD. That game relies on evoking those feelings in the same way, doesn't it.
Last edited:
