What makes for a mechanically satisfying game? I suppose a lot of things might, but my favorites tend to have a loop. Note that I’m not a games studies person or a narratologist or even a ludologist, I’m just a guy who knows what he likes. And I like a good loop. What is a loop? It’s just an action or activity that repeats, sometimes in measures of increasing complexity, throughout the course of a game. In Enchanter, we find spells to cast spells to find spells, and so forth. In games like Bloodborne, we alternate between exploration and more narrow, boss-punctuated tests of endurance. In Hadean Lands, players solve alchemical problems to attain new recipes and reagents that can solve more difficult alchemical problems. And so forth.
I write about such things sometimes. I’ve advised new authors to try to come up with a rewarding loop at the beginning of a project, because a loop is a kind of writing prompt.
Familiar Problems
Daniel, Ada, and Sarah Stelzer
spoilers
This is the first video gamey game that I’ve played this Ectocomp, and that’s not a putdown! In fact, I chose to play Familiar Problems specifically because I anticipated an engaging loop with a growing power set. I was not disappointed. The protagonist familiar begins as a green blob but has acquired a varied arsenal by game’s end. We gain power by consuming our fellow familiars. I guess that does raise some metaphysical questions, but it never feels terribly serious.
Perhaps they all get to escape at the adventure’s end.
It’s a university setting with some gentle mockery directed at various departments. The humor is enjoyably light; it never tries too hard.
I haven’t encountered many puzzles in this year’s Ectocomp. That changes here! A lot of the puzzles in Familiar Problems are very enjoyable, and the gameplay always keeps the core loop at the center of things. There’s no non-sequitur water level puzzle, for instance. We use our powers to make progress. The final problem, which involved multiple powers in multiple locations, was very well-designed. I enjoyed realizing that I would need to toss the graduate student through the window; a very nice ah-ha!
The cover art is quite charming. Seeing the text “familiar problems,” which is a bit of a commonplace phrase, above three of what I assumed (correctly) were familiars made me laugh aloud.
We haven’t talked about the interface yet, which is burying the Lede, really. This Dialog game has a showstopping presentation complete with a clickable map as well as standard and script text outputs. It is 100% playable as a mouse-only game (I did so). The level of polish and convenience on display here is truly impressive.
I think the core mechanic here is interesting enough to drive a larger game. I’m sure many would feel the same way.