I can't really upload a picture clear enough to read the text so here's a transcript of the entire thing:
Charm - A study in the understanding of the core elements of charm within the gaming industry
Introduction
‘Charm’ - “a power of pleasing or attracting, as through personality or beauty” (Entry, dictionary.com). This word has been used to describe various different aspects of many games to date, but without context or explanation, its meaning is lost. On a personal level, I have opinions of what can make a game like this, whether it be due to the art style, gameplay mechanics or the story. Each part has to fulfil a specific role for it to cross the threshold of what I can consider to be charming, and as such, I often find that I’m attributing this word to games of the puzzle genre without any real knowledge of why. Marty Sliva and Lawrence Sonntag, both notable reviewers for IGN and Inside Gaming respectively, have both commented on charm that can be found in games, Sliva stating that “Yoshi’s Wooly World looks charming as heck” (Sliva, IGN.com) and on Edna and Harvey: Harvey’s new eyes’ “charming enough to want more” (Sonntag, insidegamingdaily.com).
Rationale
Quirkiness and charm are “so often absent from our industry's products, and so undervalued” (Nutt, www.gamasutra.com) and it’s usually quickly overlooked in favour of violent video games because at it’s core, “violence sells” (Yenigun, www.npr.org), especially in video games. This had lead to a rise in war games such as Call of Duty and Battlefield and inevitably, leaving the quirky and charming games behind. More developers have fallen to the trend of making violent games as “it's often easier to do violence than it is to generate meaningful, interesting conflict through nonviolent ways.” (Pope, www.gamespot.com). During my research, I aim to find a definition of what’s required to make games that are meaningful and interesting by exploring games that are described of a charming nature.
Research Methodologies
I conducted both primary and secondary research when searching for an overarching definition of ‘charm’ within video games. The former was primarily built around playing games which I had personally felt were charming, taking into account the art style, gameplay and stories contained within each game. I find that this research helps me understand what I feel to be charming, for example, the charm for The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds comes from a mix of the art style having bright colours and ‘cute’ character design and the game mechanic of merging into walls, opening up the world to a whole new dimension of traversal
The latter part of my research took me online when I found an abundance of reviewers, both professional and amateur, expressing their descriptions of games which, they too themselves, thought were of a ‘charming’ nature.
Both methods provided me with feedback for individual aspects of this style of game, this being what the common denominators are when describing them. Then I was then able to feed this into the development of my project to distinguish a personality which I had been working towards.
Development
I set out with the idea that I wanted to learn what ‘charm’ really meant in a game and so I began my research into which games the word can be pinned to. Several articles published online had lead me toward games like “TownCraft” and “Bravely Default”. I looked at each of the articles I had found and saw that while many refer to the games as charming, they also had similar descriptions respective to art style and gameplay. TownCraft has “adorable artwork” (LeFebvre, www.cultofmac.com) and Bravely Default’s “characters are adorable” (User Review, www.giantbomb.com). These two very different games have a similar frame of reference when the art design is talked about, making it clear that there are similarities within games which overlap and strengthen the idea of ‘charm’ within them. Furthering this, I found, it wasn’t only the art style which was referred to, it was also the game mechanics, the story and the music which all gave these games personality, this lead to finding that each of these elements were deeply embedded in the delivery of the tones and moods of these games.
Results
During the course of my research, I found that the umbrella of ‘charm’ was often used in context with all similar aspects of these games. It was often repeated in different articles about different games but each had their own description eluding to what it means to have a game be ‘charming’.
- Art Style - Often when the art style was mentioned, the words “adorable”, “colourful” and “beautiful” are all mentioned. This ‘cute’ ideal is more than apparent in many of the examples I’ve seen throughout my research.
- Story - As for the stories and where they’re concerned, the narratives are seen to be “both funny and heartfelt” (Webster, www.theverge.com) in reference to ‘Thomas was alone’ and in cases “minimalistic storytelling method preserves some mystery and intrigue” (User Review, www.gamefaqs.com) when discussing Contrast. These methods of storytelling allow the player to really connect with what’s happening within them.
- Characters - Not just the stories however are a major part to this but also, in the case of Peggle 2, the characters being a part of those stories give “the game(s) personality” (Molina, www.usatoday.com). With the characters being relatable, they give an added depth to the player experience.
- Mechanics - When the core mechanic is “well-executed” (User Review, www.gamefaqs.com) and “shakes up what you’d expect from the genre” (O’Rourke, o.canada.com) it becomes a natural part of the player’s actions as they progress through the game. Having intuitive and simplistic controls don’t detract from the tone that the story and art style give off.
- Music - Finally the music has an intense role to play in the overall feel of these games. As the “main theme perfectly captures the mood and tone” (O’Rourke, o.canada.com) in Child of Light and “subtle but moving music playing” (Nutt, www.gamasutra.com) on Animal Crossing: New Leaf, both give an incredible sense of mood and tone to these games, it becomes another part of the package which fits all of these pieces together.
These points gave me an insight into how to proceed with the building of my project. To build charm into my game, I will have to create a character that the players can relate to and have them fit into a story that can be funny and intriguing. The mechanics will have to be an integral part of the story too; rather than just having options to pick up items and proceed to the end of the level, there needs to be an action which the player has reason perform. Then finally, the music needs to have an air of subtlety, not be too overpowering but has dramatic effects when necessary.
Outcomes
After finding my research had provided me with a greater understanding of how each part can collectively portray a games personality, I should be capable of producing a game of my own design to display the ‘charm’ that I’ve been looking for. The conventions I can apply to my game will enable others to have an easier understanding of this style of game and how they are built.
With the design of ‘Ella’, I wanted to approach the innocence of a child with a creative spark. To begin, I designed her character to look ‘cute’ with a large head and big, wide eyes, to portray a sense of youth and explorative nature. The story has Ella fall asleep whilst painting and becomes a part of the paintings she’s done, the idea is to help out characters by way of painting in the missing (or covered up) objects. With the art style, I’ve kept the design coherent to the story to make the player actually believe they’re playing levels in a painting. This also follows through to the game mechanic, having Ella ‘fill in’ parts of the paintings by using a brush to complete them, rather than have the objects just appear, they’re ‘painted’ in with large brush strokes until they’re complete.
Websites
LeFebvre, R. (2013) Adorably charming game TownCraft gets the job done [Internet], cultofmac.com. Available from: <http://www.cultofmac.com/251396/adorably-charming-game-towncraft-gets-the-job-done-review/>
Molina, B. (2013) ‘Peggle 2’ a charming puzzle game [Internet], usatoday.com. Available from: <http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/gaming/2013/12/10/peggle-2-review/3950167/>
Nutt, C. (2013) The quiet genius of Animal Crossing: New Leaf [Internet], gamasutra.com. Available from: <http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/195157/The_quiet_genius_of_Animal_Crossing_New_Leaf.php>
O’Rourke, P. (2014) Child of Light is elegant and charming but lacks depth [Internet], canada.com. Available from: <http://o.canada.com/technology/gaming/review-child-of-light-is-elegant-and-charming-but-lacks-depth>
Pope, J. [Quote] (2013) Ex-GTA developer explains why he'll never go back to violent games [Internet], gamespot.com. Available from: <http://www.gamespot.com/articles/ex-gta-developer-explains-why-hell-never-go-back-to-violent-games/1100-6408576/>
Sliva, M. (2014) Yoshi’s Wooly World looks charming as heck [Internet], ign.com. Available from: <http://uk.ign.com/articles/2014/06/10/e32014-yoshias-wooly-world-looks-charming-as-heck?abthid=53972f21e6fa906820000007>
Sonntag, L. (2012) Edna and Harvey: Harvey’s New Eyes Review [Internet], insidegamingdaily.com. Available from: <http://www.insidegamingdaily.com/2012/10/31/edna-harvey-harveys-new-eyes-review/>
User Review. (2014) A charming game nearly ruined by poor plot design [Internet], giantbomb.com. Available from: <http://www.giantbomb.com/bravely-default/3030-43731/user-reviews/2200-27297>
User Review. (2014) A charming concept game that successfully strives to be more [Internet], gamefaqs.com. Available from: <http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps4/724522-contrast/reviews/review-156641>
Webster, A. (2014) ‘Thomas Was Alone’ is the iPad’s most charming game [Internet], theverge.com. Available from: <http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/15/5720518/thomas-was-alone-ipad>
Yenigun, S. (2013) Video Game Violence: Why Do We Like It, And What's It Doing To Us? [Internet], npr.org. Available from: <http://www.npr.org/2013/02/11/171698919/video-game-violence-why-do-we-like-it-and-whats-it-doing-to-us>
Images
Fig 1. - Yoshi’s Wooly World, Video Game, Nintendo, 15/06/2014
Fig 2. - The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Video Game, Nintendo, 28/11/2013
Fig 3. - Bravely Default, Video Game, Square Enix, 19/06/2014
Fig 4. - Child of Light, Video Game, Ubisoft, 19/06/2014
