The power of pacing

I don't usually let someone cut out my work for me... but seriously watch this video. I couldn't believe how much I could relate to most of it.... save for the saints row bit as that game has plenty of potential "quiet time" in between missions. However nearly every type of game I ever loved (save for maybe R&C and some killzones) seems to have a big sense of this quiet time element, and I take full advantage of it when it shows up or even make my own quiet time in games like Killzone 2. Yet it is actually a little disturbing that it's a bit lacking in some of the very successful games. Not that the idea of breaking up the pace is completely removed, its just that its often replaced by higher action that could only be done with scripts or tightly controlled pieces.... like Killzone 3 taking you from run and gun to jepack joy riding or some rail piece space shooter, or Call of Duty giving you a rail piece predator missile toy and telling you to blow up a tank or an overly scripted stealth mission that ends in more explosions anyways. Now don't get me wrong, maybe there is some kind of audience out there that just wants nonstop mayhem.... and I know I sound odd going against that since nonstop mayhem sounds fun. However I really do like the topic at hand here and agree that having some more patience and some quieter moments makes a really strong difference. For starters it makes developers get a little more creative and shows some more talent or at least attempts to go beyond the core premise of any regular action game. It is also almost essential to building up a strong sense of atmosphere.

Quiet time is a weird way to celebrate player interaction in my eyes. It releases you from gunning, traps, or other threatening or thrilling experiences for a moment and puts you into a zone designed soley around a bit of a break. Sure you can play with ragdolls after a firefight you won, but walking down some lonely corridor of a ghost ship in shadow fall or step into a small town of culture trying to hide their fears in Metro and its an experience that is specially tailored for you to just sink some time into relaxing a bit more and soaking up some other form of interest the developer put out for you. Maybe there's even a secret, some hidden lore, an audio log revealing a background plot detail, or even a tiny game within itself out there waiting for you as well. As mediocre and obscure as a game like Alpha Prime is, I adore it for going with a gimmicky physics engine and a carry function that even extends to playing basketball right after a robot shoot out. I just love moments like this that let you sit back, relax, learn something about the world you're immersed in, and just watch the colorful skybox or some other peaceful event. I remember being so fascinated by skyboxes in Spyro to the point where I even saw a faded blue moon under a pale blue morning sky in game before I even knew such a thing could be seen on certain morning in real life.... consider that double the enchantment when I saw it in reality and then ran back into the game later that day to compare it. Fast forward to more modern times where with shadow fall I was discovering things left and right constantly on my 3rd time playing through level 5 where you infiltrated New Helghan for the first time. The developers just packed in so much content just for looking and hearing there.... but you could shoot it to if you really wanted to. Any game I have ever really loved.... well trust me I found some way to have my quiet time within it. I practically grew up on this element considering its that slow paced feeling and draw of the world that pulled me in with Spyro and similar games. Similarly it was the hooking factor for Skyrim, getting lost out in the woods and just having that fun of exploring and experimenting. This sort of thing in games like Spyro and Skyrim is honestly just magical. Then with older shooters... well there was just something always worth exploring, toying with, or cheat codes that altered the game for its more relaxed quiet time. It just felt good. Currently as I play Dark Souls I've realized I really take my time at certain spots. I check the skies, I check corners, I observe statues, and sometimes I just slowly walk and pan the camera around myself to check out my own armor detail or test the polish of the animations. I also truly try to stare down a monster's design before confronting it, fascinated with gargoyles, dragons, golems, and other cool creatures of that world. Its all an amazing feeling.

Likewise with quiet time and music discussed in the video, I actually feel like scripting itself works best in right amounts to create a big impact. I've come to realize that in a game like Resistance 3... so pure, raw, and fun in an old school sense it actually didn't bother me that I was scripted to kill an important character by following button prompts. It didn't bother me that the first 10 minutes of the game was tiptoeing around some forced stealth element hiding from "death squads". It didn't bother me that the ending was just an upside down rail segment that stuck you to your weakest gun. However why is that? I'm so fast to jump on Call of Duty's throat for it, or even worse... battlefield. Even with Killzone 3 I really disliked its direction compared to Killzone 2 due to the scripted events, but upon listening to some other guys discuss the games I've come to realize Killzone 2 shares quite a few scripted sequences to. Yet my feelings were genuine and still hold that one weaker than the other, but why? Well pacing and proper amounts is the only real visible factor. Killzone 2 has rail pieces, but they are down to a bare minimum in between levels full of raw gunplay and satisfying linear level designs and amazing aesthetics. Killzone 3 pumped up the gameplay mechanics and freedoms in a couple ways but gives you less time to enjoy them and more time shoving you into some script. Sure there might be about as much turret pieces, but then there's the heavy handed scripted stealth, the jetpack jumping through a tutorial style strict piece, a moment of just walking with a glitchy AI partner that later repeats itself again, and then you add that all on top of what Killzone 2 already did and its practically a little more than double the scripted events.... even if they're small. That goes without saying that the last 10 minutes of the game is done on a poorly executed space rail shooter that ends with one of the most abrupt, and poorly acted cut-scene endings I think I've ever seen leaving you especially disappointed and without closure to a game that actually had amazing core gameplay. This design combined with a market already full of similar ideas makes for a very predictable and strict experience where quiet time is thrown out the window for a sad attempt to amp up the excitement like some insecure team that doesn't believe in their work to be exciting in itself. However when scripts in other games are more apart and less predictable you got to actually enjoy the small break from the mundane and witnessed a unique event. Destroying legions of ships with a AA gun on a ship, being asked to command a tank and hold back an assault, and piloting a giant mech as the main scripted events spread far between a whole campaign offered up a solid experience that emphasize the right moments and make the game more accessible when you specifically want gameplay vs a certain "big" scripted moment. Not only that but it makes those events in themselves more exciting. You know those Resistance 3 scripts I brought up earlier? Well they were the only ones in the entire game and they were placed in the beginning, middle, and end with over an hour or two of raw fun gameplay and some quite time in between each. Ending on that sudden burst of adrenaline where you seen your guy hanging upside down with a revolver that had infinite ammo and a couple dozen aliens shooting at you from the ground was a thrilling and amazing experience of explosive bullet spam and fun action that put the campaign on a good closing note for a thrilling shooter. If I were pushed into that scripted sequence every level, or had to do some stupid prompt every 10 minutes, there would be no magic to that moment... it would be just another spectacle throwing me out of the game and into a quick time event marketed for the masses that need a gimmick to hold their attention... and ironically I'm the one who actually has ADD.

However do you want to know the ultimate irony in one of the best scripted events ever..... I'm going to give you another video for this one.... right here. Yes that's right, a call of duty game is not only one of the best examples I have of a limited and powerful use of a scripted sequence but I think it is among my favorites when it comes to game endings. I nearly got tears again from watching this, remembering how powerful it was to come across all the war torn battles, fight through the long struggle to get there, to hear Reznov cheer me on.... and suddenly as I'm about to raise the flat in patriotic triumph an accident I have no control over catches me like a surprise a real bullet wound would have. After we supposedly cleared the area with a strong but indirect bombing, That struggling man comes out of nowhere as an unexpected survivor and shoots me as I desperately wonder whether or not I'll make it to see the victory I played for while my screen fades out and things get blurry. Suddenly I see my pal and commander, who has been encouraging me to be a hero like he was some past mentor looking forward to seeing his student achieve greatness, leaps out and in a blind fury and chops and hacks at my attacker for vicious and brutal revenge before returning to his cheerful "you can do it hero!" tone helping me make that goal that felt so deserved. It happens.... I make it.... and I lived to see that ending together with my favorite character in the series as we smashed that flag of victory in to declare a great achievement. That was just brilliant, and every small detail just felt so good and perfect for grabbing the player in. There was no other moment even close to it through the whole game because 80% of it was you in control and you doing the battles and interacting in some way with the field. What other scripts either felt big in themselves or so small that it was fluid and natural. The game created big set pieces in the form of giant battles rather than tight scripts and you were truly a part of these big show downs, like defending a wave of banzai soldiers or ducking in and out of covers of several buildings as you try to approach a big machine gun nest that has been hosing down your reinforcements. It felt powerful to be a part of that and accomplish these tasks, but these small moments where control was taken away to show you something that went beyond the game mechanics... it was used wisely and creatively to create moments of great impact. I'm not that only one that feels the impact of these big pace changes done wisely either. My dad was in love with the tank level of World at War for how well polished and enjoyable it was compared to the different tone of the rest of the game, meanwhile it was just another boring routine set piece in something like Battlefield 3 that used tank commanding in addition to an absurd amount of other scripts. It wasn't that the level was bad, it let you control a tank and my dad loves the novelty of that alone, but it was just that there was nothing special about it when each level tossed you some silly gimmick like that to the point that there was no core game to just enjoy for itself and no sense of pacing.

Incredible moment due to the masterfully paced surprise

I'll admit I'm impressed with the awesome first person combat of the modern warfare endings, but none of them have ever come close to the powerful of an impact the russian World at War ending held. Nothing was this well executed, this suspenseful, this surprising. They just kept finding a way to make some shock value entertainment with controversial set pieces in between very typical and dull toy fiddling to jump around throughout your game or force you into some narrow direction. It becomes dull, easy, predictable, and after entry after entry of seeing the series do this the whole routine is stale enough that it finally caught up to battlefield and Medal of Honor as being damn amazing if you can even make yourself finish it. I honestly could not finish Ghosts..... and upon seeing a bit of footage I can tell there were some scripted set pieces I'm missing out and I have a good bit of ways to go. It just isn't worth it though. There is no substance to it. Similarly while I praise Shadow Fall for its use of quiet time, and its depth in small details under the right levels, it also tries to deploy every single other type of FPS trick to the point where it isn't so well paced in itself anymore either. It was great to have that platforming at the beginning, that tricky and unique level with the sentries, and again that ghost ship level was brilliant. However the game established quick time events every time someone important came up, every time you had a transition there was a script or some stupid linear rail piece for it, and every time you were about to engage in something great you likely had to wait on one of these problems or some other control jerking piece before the good came. It got annoying, and as much fun as I had the game is basking in a clumsy direction that just leaves you knowing it didn't hit the full potential. For every amazing piece, amazing reveal, or well planed moment of peace and deep interaction.... there is a lingering feeling that "Press X and O to continue" will pop up around the corner as an important plot character pops up to jerk control like someone did the last level completely breaking your immersion out of what could have been an amazing and unique industrial sci-fi world. So... you know what I actually take back what I said before about the nonstop mayhem having an audience. If you want the best impact, honestly its just healthier and better to use it sparingly. That's not to say every single second needs to be quiet time, but I'll go back to using World at War as a great example.... make big action the theme of your game and let the player always be a part of that. When you're truly ready for scripting, it can become a powerful and unexpected thing. Meanwhile the player gets to live in the brutal mayhem and experience the chaos of war for themselves in well designed and exciting events that unfold on a regular basis in gameplay.... but that would require good consistent level design and is asking for too much when people are willing to buy up that overscripted quick time carnival of gimmicks, right? Yeah ok I'm getting off track for a cynical jab, sorry about that. Seriously though, I wish people would just put that sort of effort back into their games again... its healthier for the market, and it brings the best out of both consumers and developers. Infinity ward didn't get that famous shocking Nuke event in Modern warfare by making a predictable game of rails and quick time events. Nope, it was a big surprise back then because scripting was often reserved for half-life grade events and games the player was expecting constant control and typical battle after battle. Suddenly that beastly unstoppable power on a scope outside most comprehension at that time made its mark not just on the player but made a powerful moment in FPS history. That is how you send the message, not by tiring it out and making it the generic standard that nobody gets any input in.

To summarize I really do believe these quiet time moments and well thought out pacing makes an amazing game. To parrot the video, I will also agree that well done music sets the tone as well and in addition to quiet time maybe quiet tunes help as well. I remember Tomb Raider (the old one!) is an amazing example of this, the atmosphere felt so empty.... and then..... well lets just say everyone remembers that T-rex and the music was certainly a part of that. Meanwhile having the time to explore the landscape, absorb the atmosphere, look for clues even if they may not be there to begin with, and to encourage both the developer and player to think a bit outside the box and outside of the quick time events.... its all a good thing and I think the very best of games will accomplish that sense of awesome pacing. As much as I talk about horrible use of scripting, some scripting is also better than none but either route is miles better than abusing it. The impact of a massive game breaking event on a scope and suspenseful surprise that the player cannot control can be an amazing thing. However making the game full of those just isn't smart or fun.... it just happens and then it ends and never holds any impact or memory on the player ever again. That's not what I want to walk away with after I played a game, and I'm sure after all those hours working on any kind of game that's not the immpresion you want to leave on players. So give your games some well placed spacing and time. Give it good thinking moments to let the adventure sink in. Give the player well composed and directed music that truly marks every moment as something different and special from the ordinary. And again.... give players that powerful scope experience out of their control every once in a while to swipe them off their feet, but remember not to do it too much or you might as well be carrying them rather than letting them play a game they paid $60 for. The work of quiet time is a beautiful thing.... now if you'll excuse me I have to go stare at the sun rays of anor-londo again.