On my first research encounter I found an interview with Bioshock's Ken Levine. Being a fan of the series I read through the article and straight away found some very interesting points.
The interviewer from 'Industry Gamer' asks Levine 'is first person tantamount to immersion?'
In which his response is
' I think it’s obviously, for me, the most direct way to engage. It’s one less barrier to the experience'
This bought on a few questions, what other games are considered immersive and can a 3rd person or even a 2D game create this experience?
I found an article on little-players.com listing 5 of the most immersive games (by the opinion of the author Pojut)
'9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors' claims 5th place, a game on the Nintendo DS. He doesn't go into massive detail as to why this is on his list he does however mention the story, the 'interactive novel'. 'when you consider the minimal visuals presented throughout the experience', its clear to see that a simple element such as tense story can draw a player in. I will mention now the story is very 'SAW' based (Horror, Gore Etc).
I have never considered visuals to be a massive thing, in most games its not what it looks like but how it plays that counts. Having looked at 999 its clear that the player is led through the story making critical decisions for the main character by giving the various progression options the player becomes part of the story (999 is a game much like 'the walking dead game').
Another game to take a spot is 'Clive Barkers Undying'. Taking the 'adrenaline rush' theory or as Pojut describes it 'the "Something's gotta be around this corner. Wait, nope, nothings there" feeling'. The game waits until the player is comfortable and then puts something around that corner. Once again the player is pushed into a first person view point, again enforcing the whole 1st person being more immersive theory.
One thing that stays strong throughout all the examples that are given here is the genre. With a horror or 'spooky' theme, the games provoke the players survival instinct, the need to continue pushing through levels. In the instance of bioshock you are put into the shoes of a character with no real personality. Ken Levine says 'We were sort of not developing the character. It was about you experiencing things more than the character experiencing things'. The idea being that the player can feel as though it is them running around Rapture (the games environment), with no un-likable character standing in the way players can imagine they are the ones in danger not just the virtual character in the game, thus leading to a much more immersive experience.
I found an interesting topic on the Steam forums about immersive and (as they described) 'shallow' games. All of the commenters here described alot of the 1st person shooter games to be shallow, they descirbe them to be pickup and play mindless fun.
JBarrios - a member of gamedev.net - 'In my opinion the opposite of immersion is cinematic', again he mentions shooters as a more 'Cinematic' experience. A game which prefers cut scenes to actual gameplay experiences, a game which doesnt give the player as much input on the outcome of various situations.
After this research spanning some websites around the internet I have come to conclude that a First Person point of view is best to truly give the player the feeling they are 'in' the game. With a horror/eerie theme the player must be aware of surroundings to 'survive' (or at least get from level to level).
Below is a list of all the websites I gathered some research from to come to a conclusion on where my dissertation project should go.
I will most likely be pushing myself to complete a Unity game. A software I have had some experience with in the past but never worked on completly by myself. I wish to gain a better experience with working in Unity, especially with coding either set pieces (But not cinematics!) or just letting a player experience an immersive environment.
Ross, Out.
Bibliography
Industry Gamers, 2011, Be Yourself (Or Not): BioShock [online] Available at - http://www.industrygamers.com/news/be-yourself-or-not-bioshock/ - Last Accessed 18/10/2012
Pojut, 2011, Top 5 Most Immersive Games [online] Available at - http://www.little-players.com/blog/2011/05/top-5-most-immersive-games/ - Last Accessed 19/10/2012
Steam Forums, 2012, Most immersive games and most shallow games [online] Available at - http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2848369 - Last Accessed 19/10/2012
JBarrios, 2011, Immersion [online] Available at - http://www.gamedev.net/topic/612293-immersion/ - Last Accessed 19/10/2012
the “something’s gotta be around this corner. Wait, nope, nothing’s there” feeling
Read more at little-players.com : Top 5 Most Immersive Games http://wp.me/p1hNPs-tQ
Read more at little-players.com : Top 5 Most Immersive Games http://wp.me/p1hNPs-tQ
specially when you consider the minimal visuals presented throughout the experience
Read more at little-players.com : Top 5 Most Immersive Games http://wp.me/p1hNPs-tQ
Read more at little-players.com : Top 5 Most Immersive Games http://wp.me/p1hNPs-tQ
especially when you consider the minimal visuals presented throughout the experience
Read more at little-players.com : Top 5 Most Immersive Games http://wp.me/p1hNPs-tQ
Read more at little-players.com : Top 5 Most Immersive Games http://wp.me/p1hNPs-tQ
especially when you consider the minimal visuals presented throughout the experience
Read more at little-players.com : Top 5 Most Immersive Games http://wp.me/p1hNPs-tQ
Read more at little-players.com : Top 5 Most Immersive Games http://wp.me/p1hNPs-tQ
when you consider the minimal visuals presented throughout the experience
Read more at little-players.com : Top 5 Most Immersive Games http://wp.me/p1hNPs-tQ
Read more at little-players.com : Top 5 Most Immersive Games http://wp.me/p1hNPs-tQ
when you consider the minimal visuals presented throughout the experience
Read more at little-players.com : Top 5 Most Immersive Games http://wp.me/p1hNPs-tQ
Read more at little-players.com : Top 5 Most Immersive Games http://wp.me/p1hNPs-tQ
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