Sunday, April 23, 2023
Directions From On High
The
player is a wild and chaotic beast prone to doing what you least
expect and are both the joy and bane of developers. This is
especially true for any game which focuses on narrative as its core
element since there is no guarantee the player will experience the
story in the way the designers intended and even more so if there is any
form of freedom offered. Visual novels fall into this
category and since their narratives form the backbone of the
experience it is vital for many of them to ensure the player never
gets lost or confused as to the intentions of the story or finds a
major plot point before they should. The solution which many visual
novels have developed is the Enforced Play Order. This is a
restricting of what parts of the game the player has access to at one
time and acts to control their progress while ensuring a smoother
transition from one route to another. However, there is no unified
approach to how this Enforced Play Order should be implemented. There
are instead three main ways it implemented, a completely rigid play order,
only having the finale locked and moving in and out of controlling
the player’s progress. It is these which will form the basis of
discussion in this article and will be explored to see the pros and
cons of each method. So let’s follow the path laid out before us
and dive into the Enforced Play Order.
Rigid Play Order
Sometimes
the best approach is to give the player no freedom at all, why risk them
misunderstanding something when you can take them by the hand and
make sure they experience everything correctly? This is the idea at
the core of the Rigid Play Order and it is the realm of the plot
heavy visual novel which would suffer the worse from the possible
confusion of the player. Being rigid does have its advantages and
does not necessarily exclude them from the benefits of the more
flexible approaches.
Controlling
the player’s approach to the game provides the developer with a
rigid framework to shape their visual novel around as they do not
have to account for any discrepancies which might occur due to the
order a player experiences it in. In other words they have control over
the pacing and plot progression in a way which is simple for both
them and the player. Having a tightly paced game makes sure the
player is on the same page as the game and forges a more memorable
journey as the highs and lows are presented to the player in a way
that feels natural. A more free-form visual novel risks becoming more
lumpy with sections of good and bad content showing unevenly
throughout and leaving an inconsistent taste in the player’s mouth.
Rigid Play Order avoids this pitfall through the smooth direction it
can give the player and the way it can ensure that they are given the
best content at the right moment to leave them with an overall
positive impression while communicating its ideas.
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| Everything has its place and is shown when needed |
If there is one game
which embodies this approach it is Wonderful Everyday. Each route
exists in a linear order with a distinct segregation to make it clear
when the narrative has moved on and ensures the player knows exacts
the direction to go next. Despite this there is a strong flow
throughout the entire experience as the different character
perspectives on the same events slowly fill out the player’s
understanding in a rewarding way that makes sure they have exact
amount of new information to be engaged while keeping the mystery
thick. This would not be possible without the exacting control
offered by the Rigid Play Order since without this backbone it
would not be possible to know what the player would do first and so be forced to
spread the content thin across the game while not giving the larger
nuggets present in the actual game.
It
might be tempting to paint the entire approach to Rigid Play Order as
one that comes at the cost of player freedom but, while there is some
truth to this idea, many visual novels which follow this method have
a flexibility that becomes available upon repeated playthroughs. Most
games using this technique do so through a series of unlocking routes
and these extend from a common route like most other visual novels.
So once all have been unlocked what remains is a standard free-form
narrative many expect from the medium and this makes the next
playthrough one tailored by the player as they can pick and choose
which parts to replay. This freedom is fine for the Rigid Play Order
since it is mainly interested in ensuring the first experience is as
strong as possible and as these games often rely major plot elements
not being spoiled there is no
reason to constrict the player after the curtain has been pulled
back.
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| In choice presentation Hello Lady is the same as many other visual novels |
A showcase of this can be seen with Hello Lady. During the
first time a player traverses the game there is very little choice
given to them as to which heroine they will be picking next with only
the opening two routes providing any freedom of choice. However, the
lead up the each route is presented in the standard manner and the
lock disguised by subtly shifting the player onto one of the
available route rather than the one they had been moving towards by
slowly emphasising the next important heroine to signal to the player
where to go next. What is left over after the player has unlocked
everything is the familiar heroine based structure as the differing
direction cues which helped the player find where to go are merged
into a background noise and what remains does not guide the player
but instead lets them loose. This unfurling approach is common among
Rigid Play Order visual novels as it allows them to still have some
of the replayability present in their more free-form kin.
Finale Only Lock
Not
every game wants to tell a complicated story but many still want to
have the sense of conclusion and cohesion offered by a more rigid
narrative. To answer this need the approach of the Finale Lock was
born. This method gives the player freedom within the main narrative
but prevents them from accessing the final route or section until
all other content has been completed. As such this leans heavily into
the more free-form nature of visual novels.
Placing
characters front and centre is what this approach to Enforced Play
Order thrives on. As the visual novel cannot rely on the order a
player experiences the game outside of the final route, it instead
has to make the thrust of its themes through each routes’ main
heroine and have the final heroine acts as the thread that ties the
emotional core of the game together. This leads to a style of
narrative favouring a resonance with the player over engaging their
minds and by extension is free-form due to not being constrained by a
need to tell a story in a set order as it relys on the
feelings of the player to form its identity. The final route is
provides a means to bring the character beats together into something
more cohesive rather than the soup of emotion it would be otherwise.
Clannad is a good example of this character emphasis and its role
within a final route. For the vast majority of the playtime it gives
the player free rein over its many different parts but once these are
completed the After Story final route is unlocked. This brings
together the emotional heart of Clannad which was spread out over the
game into a place where it can be easily viewed and player can come
to appreciate the journey to this point. It also works to pay off the
feelings built up in each route and gives the player a place to come
to terms with them in a structured manner.
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| After Story is the most powerful section in Clannad |
Of
course not every visual novel using this approach is interested in
anything as complicated as emotional resonance, for many it is simply
a means to give a conclusive feeling to the game and reward the
player for getting through the rest of it. They achieve this by
packing the majority of the plot and action into the final route to
create a sense of escalation after the relatively static structure of
the heroine routes. This contrast acts as a type of reward with
everything that came before being a strong form of catharsis and this
works to encourage a tired player to continue to the end. Once a
conclusion is reached to the final route, the release of coming out
of the high of the climax gives it a sense of finality which leaves
the player with a wave of satisfaction. When looking at Date A Live:
Rinne Utopia this approach can be clearly seen. The final route
belongs to the titular Rinne and is a distinctive deviation from the
standard structure present in all the other routes. Coupled with the
general sense that everything is falling apart at the seams and the
route take on a unique identity that immediately grabs the player and
revitalises their interest in the game. It is in many ways the carrot
dangled in front of the player throughout the game given Rinne’s
obvious importance and this adds to the sense of finality present as the
climax of this final route arrives.
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| This is not a game aiming for anything complicated |
Mixing Control and Freedom
Of
course between these two extremes are the visual novels who want to
merge control and freedom in order to best fit their narratives. For
these the approach of moving in and out of controlling the player’s
options was formed to suit their needs. To achieve this these games
will open with freedom or control and shift into the opposite one and
back again as the story they are telling demands. What results is an
experience formed around the narrative but it is a delicate balancing
act with many points where the player could lose interest.
This
approach to the Enforced Play Order is a delicate balancing act
between freedom and control and runs the risks of both extremes. If
the game leans too much into control it could lead to the player feeling
restricted, but too much freedom and it could confuse the themes and
ideas it is attempting to show. Just enough of each end of the
spectrum must be shown to the player to achieve the desired effect
before switching to the other end in order to prevent either from
outstaying its welcome. Should the equilibrium be struck then the
visual novel can have the best of both worlds, gaining the clarity of
one and the openness of the other. A good example of this is I/O
which starts out with an extremely rigid series of sections before
opening up for a time and then closing up again for the finale. Having this space in the middle allows the game to provide room for
the player to contemplate the mysteries the previous sections set
up and tackle the part they want more information about. This is
directed by how the rigid sections controlled their presentation of
its mysteries and so even in a free-form space the player still have
a concise direction to follow with their curiosity.
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| I/O is an odd one from beginning to end |
Just
like with Rigid Play Order, this mixture of freedom and control is a
matter of emphasis and pacing within the game’s structure.
Switching between such vastly different feeling structures creates a distinctive
divide that highlights each section through the peaks and troughs
provided by changing between them. What results is a mechanism via
which the visual novel can shape how the player views certain parts
with the use of contrast to create a looser form version of what
Rigid Play Order aims to achieve. Perhaps the strongest example of
this can be seen in Virtue's Last Reward which subtly weaves in and
out of a free-form structure as the player makes their choices and
hits locked sections they need to complete another part to access.
These locks funnel the player down set paths but in such a way that
does not immediately feel restrictive and instead fuels the player’s
curiosity as to what is hidden behind them. On top this it ensures the
player can never stumble upon anything important without proper
context which in a narrative focused game like Virtue's Last Reward
is critical for its success.
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| Look at all the fun things you can find |
Conclusion
Exercising
control over the player is something which offers visual novels a lot
of options when it comes to tailoring the experience they are presenting. An absolutely rigid approach give the game the means to
pace itself to the player’s benefit for a smoother and even
structure. On the other hand just having a single unlockable final
route provides a sense of closure the game might otherwise lack. If
you mix these two methods together the result is a flexible ebb and
flow to the game but at the risk of gaining the negatives of both.
Overall the Enforced Play Order is an interesting tool in the visual
novel developer’s pocket and offers an opposing design space to the
more kitchen skin approach for a healthier spread of constructions.
It is definitely something to keep in the back of your mind as your
game comes together as even a small amount of it can significantly
change the perception of its narrative.
