WEBVTT 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:13.360 Hi, this is Mark Brown with Game Maker's Toolkit, a series on video game design. 00:00:13.369 --> 00:00:17.529 There are many games that designers describe as inspirational. 00:00:28.760 --> 00:00:33.960 But few modern games can claim to be quite as influential as the quietly beautiful, 00:00:33.960 --> 00:00:36.340 cult classic, Ico. 00:00:36.340 --> 00:00:41.640 In interviews, game makers have said that Ico was instrumental in the development of 00:00:41.640 --> 00:00:46.980 Papo & Yo, Brothers, Journey, and the upcoming Rime. 00:00:46.980 --> 00:00:53.260 But also less obvious titles, like The Last of Us, Prince of Persia, and even Halo 4. 00:00:53.260 --> 00:00:59.190 Dark Souls creator Hidetaka Miyazaki said "that game awoke me to the possibilities of 00:00:59.190 --> 00:01:00.280 the medium". 00:01:00.280 --> 00:01:04.989 So what is it about this unassuming game that makes it so influential among our favourite 00:01:04.989 --> 00:01:05.900 game designers? 00:01:05.900 --> 00:01:12.500 Why does it resonate so loudly, when the game itself is so quiet and restrained? 00:01:16.320 --> 00:01:19.800 You see, the game is about a boy and a girl. 00:01:19.800 --> 00:01:24.940 You control the boy, Ico, and help the girl, Yorda, escape a castle. 00:01:24.940 --> 00:01:29.530 Along the way you'll solve some puzzles, and fight shadowy monsters by whacking them with 00:01:29.530 --> 00:01:33.600 a stick or a sword. And that is... about it. 00:01:33.600 --> 00:01:36.830 Even playing it today it feels distinctly minimalist. 00:01:36.830 --> 00:01:41.540 But this sort of bare bones design was practically unheard of back on the PlayStation 2. 00:01:41.540 --> 00:01:45.350 There was no Limbo or Proteus back then. 00:01:45.350 --> 00:01:50.880 But this jarring lack of features and mechanics was, of course, deliberate, as Ico designer 00:01:50.880 --> 00:01:58.360 Fumito Ueda was using a game creation philosophy that he would later call "design by subtraction". 00:01:58.360 --> 00:02:02.960 Early on in development, when the game was being made for PlayStation 1, Ico had a complex 00:02:02.960 --> 00:02:08.030 combat system, a wide array of characters, and lots of areas like a village, a dense 00:02:08.030 --> 00:02:09.779 forest, and a deserted island. 00:02:09.779 --> 00:02:11.420 All of that was removed. 00:02:11.420 --> 00:02:15.969 Not for financial or technical reasons, but in an effort to find the core of the game 00:02:15.969 --> 00:02:20.599 and then ruthlessly prune everything that didn't fully support it. 00:02:20.599 --> 00:02:25.109 The core of Ico, of course, is the bond between Ico and Yorda. 00:02:25.109 --> 00:02:28.469 Themes of companionship, and looking out for someone in need. 00:02:28.469 --> 00:02:32.669 It's a game where you have to hold a button down, to emphasise the feeling of holding 00:02:32.669 --> 00:02:34.230 someone's hand. 00:02:34.230 --> 00:02:40.200 So everything that is left in the game is there to support that core theme. 00:02:40.200 --> 00:02:44.430 Take the puzzles: practically every puzzle in the game is only half completed when you 00:02:44.430 --> 00:02:46.519 reach somewhere new yourself. 00:02:46.519 --> 00:02:50.549 The other half is about making a safe path for Yorda to follow. 00:02:50.549 --> 00:02:52.840 And in the combat, Ico can't die. 00:02:52.840 --> 00:02:56.540 His only fail state - other than toppling off the side of a cliff - is to let Yorda 00:02:56.540 --> 00:02:59.349 get taken away by these shadowy enemies. 00:02:59.349 --> 00:03:02.319 Your safety isn't important, but Yorda's is. 00:03:02.319 --> 00:03:07.370 Similarly, because this story isn't Ico's, he doesn't level up, or have fancy combos, 00:03:07.370 --> 00:03:09.969 parries, or finishing moves during the fights. 00:03:09.969 --> 00:03:14.659 He just swings his stick about in vein hopes of defending his charge. 00:03:14.659 --> 00:03:19.759 Yorda is needed to open doors to new areas which we've seen in many games with tagalong characters. 00:03:19.769 --> 00:03:24.189 But she's also needed to save the game, as the two characters must flop back on these 00:03:24.189 --> 00:03:26.480 stone benches to store your progress. 00:03:26.480 --> 00:03:31.889 So it sure would suck, and make you feel vulnerable and alone, if Yorda wasn't there for a large 00:03:31.889 --> 00:03:34.169 stretch of the game, right? 00:03:34.169 --> 00:03:38.430 Also, Ueda wanted to focus on the aspects of the game that sold the reality of this 00:03:38.430 --> 00:03:41.739 connection and the world these characters inhabit. 00:03:41.739 --> 00:03:47.049 So Team Ico focused its time on building an intricately designed castle that was interconnected 00:03:47.049 --> 00:03:48.599 and felt like a real space. 00:03:48.599 --> 00:03:53.829 And it focused on believable and expressive animation - inspired by Ueda's favourite Amiga 00:03:53.829 --> 00:03:57.870 games like Another World, Flashback, and the original Prince of Persia. 00:03:57.870 --> 00:04:02.110 (Yes. Prince of Persia inspired Ico. And Ico inspired Prince of Persia. 00:04:02.110 --> 00:04:03.860 Video games are weird). 00:04:03.870 --> 00:04:08.609 Plus, the team simply removed elements that broke the immersive feel, and might have reminded 00:04:08.609 --> 00:04:11.159 you that Yorda was simply a video game character. 00:04:11.159 --> 00:04:16.419 There's no health bar, no map screen or inventory screen, no static characters with dialogue 00:04:16.419 --> 00:04:19.779 that loops unrealistically, and often no background music. 00:04:25.580 --> 00:04:29.379 All told, you're left with a rare game that is distinctly about something. 00:04:29.379 --> 00:04:32.259 And with nothing extraneous to dilute that message. 00:04:32.259 --> 00:04:35.399 I think that's why it resonates. 00:04:39.379 --> 00:04:43.599 This is not to suggest that all games become as minimalist and streamlined as this one, 00:04:43.599 --> 00:04:44.479 of course. 00:04:44.479 --> 00:04:49.690 The combat in Ico, in my opinion, is a little too simple and gets very repetitive. 00:04:49.690 --> 00:04:53.539 Even Ueda himself admits that he might have gone a little too far in design by subtraction, 00:04:53.539 --> 00:04:58.379 and his follow up, Shadow of the Colossus, has more elements and mechanics, as well as 00:04:58.379 --> 00:04:59.990 health bars and music. 00:04:59.990 --> 00:05:05.370 But it's also an action game without traditional enemies because what use are they, when the 00:05:05.370 --> 00:05:10.669 core of the game is better supported in the fights with these titanic bosses. 00:05:10.669 --> 00:05:15.300 It's more to say that in a time of kitchen sink design, where every game seemingly needs 00:05:15.300 --> 00:05:20.639 to have two dozen guns, a crafting system, micromanagement, and hundreds of side missions, 00:05:20.639 --> 00:05:25.460 it's worth thinking more about removing the stuff that takes away from the idea or mechanic 00:05:25.460 --> 00:05:27.039 at the heart of the game. 00:05:27.039 --> 00:05:30.180 Does Assassin's Creed really need tower defence sections? 00:05:30.180 --> 00:05:34.189 Did Tony Hawk's Pro Skater really benefit from the addition of skitchin'? 00:05:34.189 --> 00:05:37.909 An example of this in practice, is Fez. 00:05:37.909 --> 00:05:42.819 Creator Phil Fish told Gamasutra that his quirky indie game once had hearts and Zelda-like 00:05:42.819 --> 00:05:47.979 heart containers, and puzzles about redistributing weight - but he decided to remove them, and 00:05:47.979 --> 00:05:52.750 other ideas, because they didn't prop up the central mechanic of rotating the world, and 00:05:52.750 --> 00:05:56.069 the central theme of seeing things from a different perspective. 00:05:56.069 --> 00:06:00.729 Ueda's approach to design, says Fish, "gave me the strength to butcher my own game, and 00:06:00.729 --> 00:06:04.860 every time I did the game got better for it, tighter, more streamlined". 00:06:04.860 --> 00:06:09.379 To other developers Fish says "take a hard, critical look at your game and ask yourself 00:06:09.379 --> 00:06:15.860 what is necessary, what really has anything to do with what you're trying to accomplish". 00:06:15.860 --> 00:06:19.330 Because it's easy to add features that you think are cool, or will increase the game's 00:06:19.330 --> 00:06:21.750 length, or give you another bullet point on your Steam description. 00:06:21.750 --> 00:06:26.139 But is it just diluting the core message of your game, and hurting your ability to have 00:06:26.139 --> 00:06:30.169 your game be about something. To say something. To resonate. 00:06:38.469 --> 00:06:39.310 Thanks for watching! 00:06:39.310 --> 00:06:43.180 If you enjoyed the episode, please give the video a like on YouTube, leave a comment, 00:06:43.180 --> 00:06:45.250 or consider pitching in via Patreon. 00:06:45.250 --> 00:06:47.330 Your support truly makes this show possible.