There’s been a trend I’ve noticed over the past few years
that’s developed among certain internet dwellers, and quite frankly it’s
getting on my nerves.
To be more specific, I have a bone to pick with the audience
of YouTube animator Egoraptor. For those of you who don’t know, he owns a
popular channel by the same name with plenty of hilarious animations, but what influence
does this have over video games? Sure, they are
based on popular titles but he’s certainly not an authority on gaming…or, at
least that was the case until his fan
base deemed him so after only two of his rather lengthy Sequelitis videos,
where he analyses two different retro games of the same franchise.
Granted, within the context of the videos, Ego brings forth points
that are quite valid and provide insight on how and why these titles were great
(or not-so-great) for their time. However, people are misinterpreting his
analyses and taking them as a rule of thumb for how all games should be designed, which is absurd to say the least.
I’m posting this to address the overall effect of this
specific episode, and tell you why the stigma it has ignited is complete
bullshit.
The issue at hand here is that because of the video above, an
increasing amount of people are coming to the conclusion that tutorials in
video games are bad, and any developer that uses them are committing the #1
deadliest gaming sin. When I say tutorial, I mean any explicit indication from
the game that tells the player how to play, or make progress. Normally I’d
shrug at such a claim and go about my life, but I’m writing about it today
because I feel that Ego’s sister channel, Game Grumps, reaches a much wider
audience and this notion is littered among the comments in nearly every video
where game design is mentioned (and there’s over 1,300 of them presently, so
that’s quite a lot).
It’s time to point out to the misguided that there is a very clear reason why this type of
thinking hits a brick wall as you try to apply it to a wider variety of games,
and the simple answer is this; there are video games in existence that are far
more complex than platformers.
Take a look at this game here:
DmC Devil May Cry, a 2013 release. I’m sure that you and I
can both agree that there is far much
more for the player to process here than in Megaman X: there are more button
inputs, increased physical feedback, larger environments to explore, an immense arsenal of attacks that require
great skill to string together fluidly, and to top it off, a ridiculous story.
Given the increased magnitude of
content, understanding from the player becomes a greater priority and the last
thing someone needs is to miss a few bits of information that can make a world
of difference.
Here’s another one:
XCOM: Enemy Unknown. It’s the same deal as before, but even more so than DmC, with
an entire spectrum of nuances that’d be a pain in the ass to list.
Now, I ask you this question: How can a developer introduce such a varying amount of game play
elements without the use of a
tutorial, or some form of explicit
instruction? I can tell you right now
that the process of learning to play XCOM without any sort of consultant would
be an absolute nightmare, and how in the world
would I figure out that a slight pause between attacks in DmC could change my
entire combo? By acknowledging this, and taking into account that not every
player is as ingenious as the next, providing basic instruction is a must.
What makes this painful to stomach is that Egoraptor himself
is enough proof that tutorials aren’t as bad as he and his fans make them out
to be, and his playthrough of Yoshi’s Island makes it obvious.
5 minutes in, Ego finds out 17 years
after the game’s release that he can tongue-up. This isn’t the only example
found in Grumps either, yet from what I can tell, only a few have
noticed the vital flaw in this whole ‘tutorials = bad’ malarkey.
Seriously guys? C’mon.
Watching a couple animations on YouTube does not
make you an expert on game design.
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