HNRS 353

This is n unrelated post that anyone who has played tetris will find interesting: http://www.gudmagazine.com/games/heaven/

It is true that the portal sounds really make the game what it is, particularly GLaDOS and her conniving, insane ramblings.  One particular thing I want to focus on is the way the sounds set the mood or tone of the game.

Portal could easily be a horror game.  Remove the robot’s, almost cute, questions, remove GLaDOS’s whimsical, comical ramblings and add some grinding noises, threatening gurgles and screaming.  Take away the heart on the companion cube and add a skeleton and viola!  A bonafida horror game.

The developers made very specific choices when it comes to the sounds of portal and these choices set the mood of the game.  There are definitely creepy elements but the ridiculous things that GLaDOS says and the robot’s asking you if you are still there take the edge of the mystery and add and element of humor to the suspense.

This mood set by the music matches the skin and functionality of the game.  The companion cube has a heart on it, the robots are cute little white eggs.  The walls are also white and there is plenty of light in most of the levels setting a mood of “science” and “testing” rather then horror and suspense.

The functionality of the game matches this mood.  There is something comical, not horrible about flying through the air or being stuck in an infinite loop between the floor and the ceiling.  The graphics, sounds and functionality of the game all match perfectly.

This is a really humorous history of the Aperture Science Laboratory written by Portal’s creators.  Good to know their sense of humor carries past GLaDOS’s witty remarks.

http://www.gameinformer.com:80/b/features/archive/2010/03/24/aperture-science_3a00_-a-history.aspx

One of the first things I noticed about Portal is the way Chell (the main character) is shepherded throughout the various levels by GLaDOS. While at first this makes sense in the context of the testing center, once Chell (spoiler) breaks out of the first 19 levels, she is still oddly guided to GLaDOS. First, there is the graffiti leading Chell deeper and deeper into Aperture Science, but also the layout of the game itself. While it makes sense for the game to be leading you into new challenges, it seemed odd to me that a game that seems to encourage thinking outside the box (“now you’re thinking with portals”) only encourages minimal exploration within the game.When I tried to enter various grated openings, I couldn’t get through and often the only thing I could see on the other side was a red or white light. Even in the original ending of the game, it ends with a fade to white, before the ending credits.

While there is some exploration within each level, there is still a clear goal. Perhaps is it just because this is a puzzle game, but it seems to me that the game forces the player to stay within the set limitations of what the developers anticipated. Sure, there are many ways to solve each puzzle, but the end result is entering on one end of the room and exiting on the other. Or maybe I am expecting too much from a relatively small game.

I haven’t played Portal 2, but is there more open ended exploration, or is it still following a set path?

http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/218960/portal-s-glados-as-feminist-icon/

Here’s an interesting article on the female roles in Portal.  It goes into detail about Glados and who she represents in society.

In chapter 7 of “A Theory of Fun,” Koster listed many ludemes of a successful game: preparation, sense of space, solid core mechanics, range of challenges, range of abilities required to solve encounter, and skills required in using ability. Portal was an extremely successful game that artfully incorporated all of these ludemes to attract a cornucopia of players with a range of video game experience that was challenging to all. The preparation was the first few levels when you begin the game. It is very difficult to be killed in the first few levels where new skills are introduced and the player is familiarized with the game style. The sense of space in Portal is very interesting. It is obviously very limiting because the doors only open forward once the level is completed and the doors will not let open backwards. Because of the actual portals, space is distorted, but only for a short time until the player has acclimated to the new world’s game mechanics. Now onto the solid core mechanics of the game, the game has real physics in that gravity applies when you jump. The player can run in all direction and levitate things with its mind. The portal is the most unique thing to the game mechanics. Everything else is pretty standard. The range of challenges in Portal is spectacular. Speaking as a novice game player, Portal was extremely easy to pick up, but still was very challenging. Most of the puzzles involve logic; all that needs to be picked up are the game controls. Like I said previously, the first few levels are very easy, and progress showing more challenges. As the levels progress, they also introduce new abilities. I believe some of the first ones were: jump, pick up, drop, etc. and as you get further, you learn that the shiny ball of light needs to go into the receptor thing to open doors and such and that you can use the velocity from jump into a hole to project you further. Also, as the levels progress, more and more of these abilities are required to solve the problem. Each time the player uses an ability to solve a problem, their skill in that ability grows.

Portal also has a variable feedback system in which Koster says the result of the encounter should not be predictable. After each level, you are to enter an elevator so you cannot see what is coming next and usually what the mechanic female voice says is very bizarre, ironic, and unpredictable. In Portal, the mastery problem is dealt with in that the levels get progressively harder and you can save your levels to that you do not have to bottom feed. According to Koster, failure must have a cost. In Portal, there is a cost, but it is not too grand. For the most part you have to restart the level or you are set back to a saved point. Either way failure is more of an inconvenience than anything else. Portal uses all of these traits effectively to create a fun, challenging, and addictive game for all players.