Opinion: Mind, Body, and Soul: Three Dimensional Game Design

”And all their mind, all their soul,
all their bodies, all we know,
all the things that should have made us whole”
– Jeffrey Lee Pierce, 1958-1996.

Late Jeffrey Lee Pierce sang that while many look for particular qualities within one another, either mind, body, or soul, we all are in fact a product of all three and in order to truly excel in life we need to be accomplished, or at least come to an acceptance with each and every one of these constructs. And while this matter could be a subject of a deep, and serpentine dialectic when discussed in regards to human beings, it can also gives us an insight into videogame design and execution.

We all see games as products, and we usually assess them in the comfort of our own home disregarding any guidelines that a games writer or a games magazine might have set. To most, games can either be ”good” or ”bad”, and in fact there is no in-between. One could argue that Brink was and still is an abomination, a digital filth, and that The Last of Us, is simply a masterpiece. And even though powerful, and emotive language can be used to describe a game, it is still either ”good” or ”bad”. And the question that most asks, and usually fails to answer is ”why is it good?”. Yes, a reviewer can argue that game X had a great campaign, terrific score, and middling multiplayer, but while doing so, he/she fails to truly highlight the importance of the feature, and the reason behind its success or failure.

Success of all the titles depends on their design, as at that particular stage, each and every game receives its mind, soul, and most importantly the body, which itself is the only factor visible to human eye.  On certain occasions, a game can achieve a great success on the back of either one of these constructs, but to truly imprint its name on the cards of the videogame history, it has to be successful in all three.

Mind

Game’s mind is located within its mechanical design, and just like human brain, it operates, and controls the body. It’s a center of communications, it’s responsible for the reception of input and output of an action. For example, a press of a button within Max Payne 3 triggers bullet-time, and if its ”mind” was to be flawed, it would result in a slowdown of just the titular character and would disregard the surrounding environment, resulting in Max’s quick, yet painful death. However, Max Payne 3, is a mechanical masterpiece, and therefore activation of the bullet-time affects everything that can and cannot be seen on screen. From the toughest enemy covered in armour, all the way down to the vase which is nothing more than a part of the scenery, but shatters in a phenomenal fashion when hit by a stray bullet. And this is because its ”mind” reacts to the initial input with an array of impulses which are ultimately responsible for creation of the on screen spectacle, thorough activation of multiple reactions.

Soul

Soul unlike the mind, is directly expressed to the recipient. As quite simply, soul of the game is its story, and the plot devices which are used to carry such. And depending on its complexity, and most importantly its coherence, the accomplishment of it is assessed. However, in some instances characters, rather than the plot itself are what make a title truly great. For example, if one was to dissect the The Last of Us, he/she would end up with a fairly basic post-apocalyptic escort quest stretched over the course of over 10 hours. But, once one delves deeper into the cast of characters, their relationships, and most importantly their execution by their corresponding actors, one can uncover a story that is much more meaningful, and one that bares a much greater emotional significance.

Body

Body, is what is displayed on the screen, and unlike the mind and soul it is relative. A game’s mind and soul have to be created to meet industries and/or genre standards, as a broken title and primitive voice acting can’t be signed off as an art style or art direction. However, titles graphical presentation can come in any form imaginable. In recent year’s indie games such as Hotline Miami, Undertale, and most importantly Journey, has proven that in order to achieve commercial and critical success, a game doesn’t require state of the art graphical technology. In a matter of fact, indie developers, in some instances, understand the concept of the three dimensional game design much better than the industry giants. And this is not because they are in any way superior, it is because a success of an indie title can shape developer’s entire future, whereas a commercial failure of an AAA colossus, is nothing more than a mere hurdle.

To conclude this article, which I’ve now realised can possibly come across as a complete pile of pretentious, self indulgent w*nk. I’ll evaluate Mike Bithell’s Thomas Was Alone in accordance to the three dimensional game design of mind, body, and soul. And this is to assess whether all three are truly responsible for title’s success, or whether two or even one out of three, is good enough. The list of assessed games will expand over the course of next four weeks, as more titles will undergo the ”three dimensional” assessment, and on 7th of March final assessment will take place to evaluate whether all three factors of mind, body, and soul have to be designed to the highest standard in order for the game to be considered a success.

Thomas Was Alone
Mike Bithell

Mike Bithell’s Thomas Was Alone, was an instant hit. selling over one million copies in 2014 (excluding the number of PlayStation Plus downloads), just two years after its initial release, many were surprised for such course of action, as they couldn’t comprehend ”how a game about quadrilateral shapes can achieve any form of success?”. And the answer is quiet simple, ”because its good”. Its mind is quite frankly impeccable, as through progressive introduction of new mechanics and variables, Thomas Was Alone constantly develops its complexity, and successfully executes its design. It doesn’t stagnate over the course of the title, and also doesn’t  go down in the ball of flames. Meaning that it does what a good game is supposed to do, it creates ever the new challenges for the player while maintaining its mechanical integrity.

When it comes to the plot of Thomas Was Alone,  its ”soul”, manages to accomplish more within mere minutes than most AAA do across the entirety of game, or even an entire franchise. The plot of the game oscillates around titular character Thomas, and cast of tertiary characters.  All in game characters are visualised by an array of simple squares and rectangles, and one could argue that perhaps, such is too minimalist and fails to truly represent their person. However, in this particular instance, Thomas Was Alone‘s body, compliments the story which Mike Bithell is trying to tell through his creation. Large square, named Claire visible on the above image, represents a person who is self conscious, not comfortable within its own body (shape), but as soon as she discovers, that she’s more than large square, through realisation of her ‘‘super power”, she evolves into a new character, and moves the story onward. And this proves that while body and soul, of the videogame design are two separate entities, they can be created in harmony with one another, and ultimately can create an experience that is both impactful and, difficult to recreate.

In conclusion, Mike Bithell’s ”simple” platformer ticks all the boxes when it comes to the three dimensional game design. It’s mind, soul, and most importantly body are all designed and executed to the highest possible standard. And if one was to conclude the assessment of success in accordance to the three dimensional game design, one would have to agree that all three entities have to be of high quality in order to achieve both commercial and critical acclaim. However, concluding such assessment by dissecting only one, top tier title, is simply not enough, and every Monday, from next week (15/02/16) onward,  two more titles will undergo the dissection in accordance to the three dimensional game design.