What Makes a Game Feel Mysterious?

[droqen]

again this pattern:

EXAMPLE
EXAMPLE
EXAMPLE
--l ol he said metroidbrania! he said the word!!! i'm so smart!!!!!

anyway, yes, I'm seeing this didactic/engagement strategy appear again, i wonder what's up with that.

UNANSWERED QUESTION
EXAMPLE 1
EXAMPLE 2
EXAMPLE 3
CONNECTING LARGER CONCEPT

i'm kind of impatient. (i will readily admit this to anyone who asks.)
give me the answer right away if you got it, dude.

• QUESTION
• ANSWER
• ADDITIONAL DETAIL
• REPEAT THE ANSWER NOW THAT I HAVE THE DETAIL

... i say this, but i understand it isn't how storytelling works. However. this is not storytelling. mark brown is not taking me on an emotional ride, or at least i wish he wasn't? no, that's not right. i don't think that's what he's trying to do. there's no emotional ride here, just potentially useful information laid out in a way which i find frustrating.

if there is an emotional ride it is the 'feeling of learning' which is pretty gross and annoying, i don't need learning gamified.

anyway, that's not his fault, i'd like to reiterate that i think this is fairly common.

the algorithm is being fed.

[droqen]

"knowledge-based keys"
- force the player to pay close attention ("You can't just stumble onto a key and bumble onto a lock"; the player must be an active participant)
- when locked behind knowledge, the player can use the key at any point in time ("That's a pretty amazing feeling that leads to more personal stories" ... "interesting, sequence-breaking exploits")
- carefully parse the information, or combine different bits of knowledge (knowledge-based gameplay?) ("extra layer of satisafaction . . . "aha, I figured it out!"")

[droqen]

- the reward doesn't matter for makign the mystery satisfying

- repeating the same thing over and over makes a game predictable (the opposite of mystery/wonder? ooh)

- repetition may be necessary, we can offset it with completely unique areas

- establishing a pattern and then breaking it, don't take things for granted?

[droqen]

INVISIBLE QUESTIONS
Ones that make you ask, "What else is the game hiding?"

[droqen]

the path behind you littered with question marks

[droqen]

icebergvania

[droqen]

conceal something from the player
locked door
rules/mechanics of the game
layout of landscape/world
narrative enigma
-> they create a question in the player's mind
the player answers the question themselves via
discovery, exploration, observation, puzzle-solving, or working with others
-> satisfaction of being the one to crack the code and reveal the secret
if we don't let on that there's a puzzle to solve
"true moment of mystery as they realise that there's more to this game than they ever thought possible"

[droqen]

(these were mark brown's own sparknotes)

[droqen]

[ A. Conceal something from the player so that they are aware something is being concealed.

Examples:

- present the player with a locked door. they are aware that "doors can be opened" but they may not be aware of the answer to the questions, "what is behind the door?" and/or "how do i open the door?"

- present the player with a system whose rules are not fully understood. they may be aware that rules are being followed, but not be sure what all of those rules are.

- present the player with a landscape to explore whose nooks and crannies are undiscovered. similar to the locked door. i know how to move around and that exploration is possible, but not the extent of what exists or can exist in the landscape, or (on a smaller scale) what i will find, as in, right around that corner

- present the player with an 'enigma', an unanswered question, possibly in the narrative. this is a topic perhaps better covered by looking into the vast ocean of existing nonfiction on how to write.

  B. The player is motivated to uncover it.

It isn't a necessity that the player be allowed to do things that they are motivated to do, but it's often a good idea! In the above descriptions many player 'actions' or 'activities' are implicit.

Brown's list of common mystery-revealing actions:

- exploration
- observation
- puzzle-solving
- working with others

  There's a third part about the effect of situations where the player is NOT aware that something is concealed, but I won't go further in depth here, it's too large of a topic. ]

notes complete

[droqen]

*
From the comments regarding 'unknown unknown' type mysteries

Being left by the dev to over-analyze every sprite, animation, shadow, sound and movement is exciting for a short time, but leaves me feeling very anxious and I cannot relax into the game anymore.