Jet Boating the Rapids

So this morning, a whole slew of people from my work went off jet boating on the Lachine Rapids of the St-Lawrence river.  It was a blast, though next time I'll definitely opt for being further forwards... the back row got a ton of water flowing past our feet (we were practically floating at times), but it was the front that got soaked from above.  We definitely got pretty wet, but only the biggest quarter of waves usually made it back our way.

It was amusing when the tour guide giving us "the talk" before the jet boating asked where we were from, and he had about 9 people saying "North Carolina."  After that it was "What are you here for?  Vacation?" to which we, of course, replied that our company had moved its office here.  "What company?"  "A video game company."  "Ahhhhh," came the reaction, "I hate you guys!  If I'd known you were a gaming company, I'd have cancelled your tickets!"  He was joking, of course, and after the hour-long tour of the rapids was over, it was "Come back again.  We'll give you free rides so you can make a game of rapids-jet-boating."

Ironically, I had already been thinking about how one would go about recreating that experience in a videogame format.  Here are some of my thoughts!

Why Jet Boating on the Rapids is fun:

* You get wet.

* It's unpredictably predictable.  The guide at the front would give us a 3-second countdown to the biggest waves, and we could see many of the water hazards coming, either from the flow of the water or through the banking of the boat, but getting splashed in the rapids always carries an element of surprise.  There would be times we thought we were safe when a hidden second wave (or third... or fourth...) would come out of nowhere and hammer us.

* You get to see neat features; the rapids themselves, wildlife on outcroppings in the river, some sections of the city from a new angle.

* Seeing all that water molding into 5- and 6-foot waves, or being carved into a deep trough by the hull of the turning boat, is really pretty awe inspiring.

* Getting blasted with a huge splash of water is exhilarating- you see it coming, then you can't see, and you hear the flush of water all around you, and you're getting pressed into your seat by the impact, and it's cold but warmer than the air, which is a dramatic tactile sensation.

Some of that stuff is kind of abstract, and entirely impossible to recreate in a video game.  Obviously the tactile elements, getting wet and feeling the weight and impact of the water, are impossible to pass directly along to the player of the game.  Other elements, however, might be easier to implement, and there are probably some ways to broadcast the more tactile elements from the character to the player.

Some thoughts:
* The player obviously can't get wet.  But clever animation and feedback worked into the game mechanics themselves could give the player the distinct impression of being wet.  For example, a number of games implement at least audio feedback for when the character has exerted themselves; the player will hear some heavy breathing, as of someone who had just finished running.

Also, I feel that "Shadow of the Colossus" is notable here for really broadcasting to the player the character's exertion in holding on to the colossus.  A grip gauge broadcast exactly how much strength the character had left, but at the same time, the character would hold on with both hands when he could, and frequently lose grip with one or the other.  The shaking of the colossus would fling the character around, and if the character was walking when the colossus began to shake, he would visibly lose his balance and begin to stumble and eventually fall.  All of these elements created a very tense experience for the player; an experience in which the player really believed that the character had difficulty maintaining his grip, or an experience in which the player was immersed in the character's on-screen struggles.  The player made no physical exertion, but mentally they were right there with the character.

Similar feedback systems could be put in place for when a character is hit with a wave of cold water.  A quick burst of under-water sound, a sharp gasp for breath indicating the return of breathing and the coldness of the water, the visual feedback of a soaked character onscreen or more subtle lighting elements to suggest the changes in temperature between being swamped and being exposed to the air, the gameplay-feedback of either being pushed around or swept off your feet, potentially losing progress towards your goal.  It might help increase this immersion if there was some action you could take to prepare the character for impact, and thus lose less progress, or at least be incapacitated for a shorter amount of time.  The key to this sort of believable experience is cross-feedback; it has to look like the character is suffering the effect, it has to sound like it, and the gameplay mechanics must simultaneously broadcast that same information.

* Predictable unpredictability is what games like World of Warcraft specialize in.  Barring add-ons that broadcast a boss's next move, the player doesn't really know what the boss will do next.  However, World of Warcraft is notable in that if you are paying attention, you can see what's coming next.  A cast bar makes it obvious, but so does a casting animation, a particle effect specific to the spell at hand, and a series of sounds accompanying the particle effect.  Frequently, there's even a tracer particle- a fireball shoots from the enemy's hand towards the player quickly enough that it can't be avoided but slowly enough that the player can see it coming and identify what is happening to his character and why.

There's a clever balance at hand in World of Warcraft, and it's actually more delicate than you might think.  Even things like size-of-effect are carefully broadcast, because when that information is fuzzy or inaccurate, the game loses its predictability, which hampers players's ability to react to what's going on, and reduces their chance of success-through-skill.

This also makes me think of situations I've run into with Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition.  One of the key aspects of the game, and very explicit within the rules of the game, is that the characters themselves (and monsters as well) KNOW what effect many spells and abilities have.  Characters KNOW that the zombie they're fighting has a drowning aura 3 squares from him, and they also KNOW they'll take 5 damage if they start their turn within it.  Why do they know these things?  Because effects like a Mark (-2 to attack rolls unless you're attacking the target that marked you), or a Zone (if you enter or start your turn, suffer an effect) are designed to motivate player behavior, and players can't behave as intended if they don't know what a spell or ability does.

That's really what this all comes down to- motivating player behavior, and allowing players to feel success by acting appropriately.  So they moved out of the way of your Exploding Keg- that's on purpose.  The keg was supposed to get them to move away!  They avoided the sucking mud and defeated your encounter quickly?  Good for them- it's reward time!

Similar to the way we could see waves coming, or watch a countdown on the boat and either brace ourselves or get a sinus-cavity full of water, players feel good about noticing hazards or benefits and reacting to minimize their detrimental effect, or maximize a beneficial effect.

* Visuals can play a huge role in games, from the obvious to the very subtle.  One of the things I noticed very strongly both when flying on a plane and when riding on a jetboat, is that gravity will very frequently still feel "down," beneath my butt, when in actuality the vehicle is banking at a very steep angle.  World of Warcraft has flying mounts that bank when they turn (flight points), and Age of Conan has horses that bank to turn, but in both games the camera stays completely vertical while the character banks.  If we really wanted to give these experiences a more visceral, gut-pulling feeling, it would be an excellent idea to allow the camera to "bank," identifying that the character feels gravity not as towards the ground, but still beneath his or her butt.

Again, Shadows of the Colossus shines here.  When riding the horse there was no change in camera, but there were a few colossi that flew.  These creatures would take spectacular dives and turns, and the camera always moved to follow and bank with the creature itself, creating a real impression of momentum and movement.  The screen would even blur during faster movements, as though the camera's "eyes" were watering sympathetically with the character's.


That's it for now!  Being exposed to some more impressively visceral real-life experiences can always inform the way we make games, and how we make them fun.  After all, people pay big money to go to an amusement park and get thrown around.  It's not (necessarily) because they like being tossed around at random- a person who suddenly went flying across the street would probably end up quite unhappy- but that we enjoy being in an unusual-yet-somewhat-predictable environment.  We can react to the world around us, choosing which roller coaster to ride, when to raise our hands, when to scream, or when to duck our heads to avoid a rapid sinus-cleansing.  The world around us shifts, banks, and rolls with our vision, as we look around and see new sights from new angles.  And all the while, our bodies are actively screaming at our brains, telling us exactly what's going on.  To recreate these experiences in games, all of these elements have to unite to be convincing and exciting.  I still remember how sore my thumb was from tensely gripping the thick fur on the back of some doomed colossus, as the camera pitched and rolled with its attempts at survival.