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Hi, this is Mark Brown with Game Maker's Toolkit,
a series on video game design.

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There are many games that designers describe
as inspirational.

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But few modern games can claim to be quite
as influential as the quietly beautiful,

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cult classic, Ico.

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In interviews, game makers have said that
Ico was instrumental in the development of

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Papo & Yo, Brothers, Journey, and the upcoming
Rime.

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But also less obvious titles, like The Last
of Us, Prince of Persia, and even Halo 4.

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Dark Souls creator Hidetaka Miyazaki said
"that game awoke me to the possibilities of

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the medium".

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So what is it about this unassuming game that
makes it so influential among our favourite

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game designers?

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Why does it resonate so loudly, when the game
itself is so quiet and restrained?

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You see, the game is about a boy and a girl.

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You control the boy, Ico, and help the girl,
Yorda, escape a castle.

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Along the way you'll solve some puzzles, and
fight shadowy monsters by whacking them with

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a stick or a sword. And that is... about it.

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Even playing it today it feels distinctly
minimalist.

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But this sort of bare bones design was practically
unheard of back on the PlayStation 2.

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There was no Limbo or Proteus back then.

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But this jarring lack of features and mechanics
was, of course, deliberate, as Ico designer

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Fumito Ueda was using a game creation philosophy
that he would later call "design by subtraction".

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Early on in development, when the game was
being made for PlayStation 1, Ico had a complex

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combat system, a wide array of characters,
and lots of areas like a village, a dense

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forest, and a deserted island.

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All of that was removed.

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Not for financial or technical reasons, but
in an effort to find the core of the game

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and then ruthlessly prune everything that
didn't fully support it.

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The core of Ico, of course, is the bond between
Ico and Yorda.

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Themes of companionship, and looking out for
someone in need.

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It's a game where you have to hold a button
down, to emphasise the feeling of holding

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someone's hand.

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So everything that is left in the game is
there to support that core theme.

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Take the puzzles: practically every puzzle
in the game is only half completed when you

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reach somewhere new yourself.

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The other half is about making a safe path
for Yorda to follow.

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And in the combat, Ico can't die.

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His only fail state - other than toppling
off the side of a cliff - is to let Yorda

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get taken away by these shadowy enemies.

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Your safety isn't important, but Yorda's is.

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Similarly, because this story isn't Ico's,
he doesn't level up, or have fancy combos,

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parries, or finishing moves during the fights.

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He just swings his stick about in vein hopes
of defending his charge.

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Yorda is needed to open doors to new areas which we've seen in many games with tagalong characters.

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But she's also needed to save the game, as
the two characters must flop back on these

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stone benches to store your progress.

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So it sure would suck, and make you feel vulnerable
and alone, if Yorda wasn't there for a large

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stretch of the game, right?

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Also, Ueda wanted to focus on the aspects
of the game that sold the reality of this

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connection and the world these characters
inhabit.

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So Team Ico focused its time on building an
intricately designed castle that was interconnected

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and felt like a real space.

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And it focused on believable and expressive
animation - inspired by Ueda's favourite Amiga

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games like Another World, Flashback, and the
original Prince of Persia.

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(Yes. Prince of Persia inspired Ico. And Ico
inspired Prince of Persia.

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Video games are weird).

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Plus, the team simply removed elements that
broke the immersive feel, and might have reminded

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you that Yorda was simply a video game character.

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There's no health bar, no map screen or inventory
screen, no static characters with dialogue

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that loops unrealistically, and often no background
music.

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All told, you're left with a rare game that
is distinctly about something.

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And with nothing extraneous to dilute that
message.

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I think that's why it resonates.

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This is not to suggest that all games become
as minimalist and streamlined as this one,

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of course.

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The combat in Ico, in my opinion, is a little
too simple and gets very repetitive.

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Even Ueda himself admits that he might have
gone a little too far in design by subtraction,

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and his follow up, Shadow of the Colossus,
has more elements and mechanics, as well as

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health bars and music.

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But it's also an action game without traditional
enemies because what use are they, when the

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core of the game is better supported in the
fights with these titanic bosses.

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It's more to say that in a time of kitchen
sink design, where every game seemingly needs

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to have two dozen guns, a crafting system,
micromanagement, and hundreds of side missions,

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it's worth thinking more about removing the
stuff that takes away from the idea or mechanic

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at the heart of the game.

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Does Assassin's Creed really need tower defence
sections?

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Did Tony Hawk's Pro Skater really benefit
from the addition of skitchin'?

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An example of this in practice, is Fez.

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Creator Phil Fish told Gamasutra that his
quirky indie game once had hearts and Zelda-like

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heart containers, and puzzles about redistributing
weight - but he decided to remove them, and

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other ideas, because they didn't prop up the
central mechanic of rotating the world, and

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the central theme of seeing things from a
different perspective.

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Ueda's approach to design, says Fish, "gave
me the strength to butcher my own game, and

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every time I did the game got better for it,
tighter, more streamlined".

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To other developers Fish says "take a hard,
critical look at your game and ask yourself

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what is necessary, what really has anything
to do with what you're trying to accomplish".

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Because it's easy to add features that you
think are cool, or will increase the game's

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length, or give you another bullet point on
your Steam description.

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But is it just diluting the core message of
your game, and hurting your ability to have

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your game be about something. To say something. To resonate.

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Thanks for watching!

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If you enjoyed the episode, please give the
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Your support truly makes this show possible.