WEBVTT 00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:06.709 2016 has been an interesting year, all things considered, but nothing has caught me by surprise 00:00:06.709 --> 00:00:10.380 quite like the comeback of the "immersive sim". 00:00:10.380 --> 00:00:15.200 Deus Ex is getting a fourth game later this month, and Harvey Smith is making another 00:00:15.200 --> 00:00:19.920 Thief-like stealth game at Arkane Studios. Which is also making a new Prey game which 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:23.279 is said to be a spiritual successor to System Shock 2. 00:00:23.279 --> 00:00:27.320 Which is getting an actual successor courtesy of Warren Spector, who is also helping Paul 00:00:27.320 --> 00:00:32.070 Neurath make an unofficial sequel to Ultima Underworld. And the first System Shock is 00:00:32.070 --> 00:00:33.670 getting a remake, too. 00:00:33.670 --> 00:00:37.380 But if you haven't heard of those games, or haven't heard of those names, or you're wondering 00:00:37.380 --> 00:00:41.300 what the hell an immersive sim is and want to know why should we care that it's getting 00:00:41.300 --> 00:00:46.720 a huge revival, then... this is Game Maker's Toolkit, I'm Mark Brown, and in this episode 00:00:46.720 --> 00:00:53.520 we're looking at the rise, fall and return of a truly fascinating game design philosophy. 00:00:54.420 --> 00:01:00.100 You can't talk about immersive sims without first talking about 1992's Ultima Underworld: 00:01:00.110 --> 00:01:06.109 The Stygian Abyss. A.k.a the most influential game you've never played. Its 3D engine prompted 00:01:06.109 --> 00:01:11.460 John Carmack to write a better one and make Wolfenstein 3D, and putting an RPG into that 00:01:11.460 --> 00:01:16.230 3D world inspired Bethesda to do the same with the first Elder Scrolls game. 00:01:16.230 --> 00:01:21.549 But Underworld's standout feature was using clever systems, artificial intelligence, and 00:01:21.549 --> 00:01:26.500 even rudimentary physics to try and simulate a believable space that wasn't completely 00:01:26.500 --> 00:01:28.560 predetermined by the developer. 00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:33.330 The overarching design goal was to give players unique stories, and then let them come up with 00:01:33.330 --> 00:01:38.220 personal solutions to quests, much like in a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Only, replace 00:01:38.220 --> 00:01:42.950 the human dungeon master with a complex nest of intertwining systems. 00:01:42.950 --> 00:01:47.979 The game's developer, Looking Glass Studios, would explore this idea of simulated spaces 00:01:47.979 --> 00:01:50.819 and player agency in all of its major games. 00:01:50.820 --> 00:01:56.320 System Shock took Ultima into outer space, and killed off all the humans to avoid those 00:01:56.320 --> 00:02:01.880 immersion-breaking conversations. Thief used advanced artificial intelligence and open-plan 00:02:01.890 --> 00:02:07.799 design to forge one of the first proper stealth games. And at Ion Storm Austin, ex-Looking 00:02:07.799 --> 00:02:13.339 Glass staffers mixed System Shock's shooting with Thief's sneaking for the incredible Deus Ex. 00:02:13.340 --> 00:02:18.920 Or Dooz Ex, as you called it in the year 2000. Don't lie. You totally did. 00:02:18.920 --> 00:02:24.010 So what is an immersive sim? What ties all these games together, and makes them different 00:02:24.010 --> 00:02:29.510 from the other first person games being made around the same time? Well here are my, personal, 00:02:29.510 --> 00:02:32.460 tenets of what makes these games special. 00:02:32.460 --> 00:02:36.070 Immersive sims, for one, offer high levels of agency. 00:02:36.070 --> 00:02:41.110 Which means you can achieve goals in multiple ways, and pick your own routes, tactics, and 00:02:41.110 --> 00:02:46.080 gameplay style. The designers tell you what to do - like, break into Lord Bafford's Manor 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:49.390 and swipe his sceptre in Thief - but doesn't tell you how to do it. 00:02:49.390 --> 00:02:53.860 The designers provide a large open space, perhaps a handful of predetermined routes 00:02:53.860 --> 00:02:58.210 that support different playstyles, and often some suggestions for how you can finish your 00:02:58.210 --> 00:03:00.300 mission. But the rest is up to you. 00:03:00.300 --> 00:03:05.210 To avoid overwhelming the player with choices, your options are sometimes limited by decisions 00:03:05.210 --> 00:03:10.130 you made earlier. In System Shock 2 you can only carry so many items, and you can only 00:03:10.130 --> 00:03:14.180 use the powers you've installed and the skills you've developed, so sometimes it's about 00:03:14.180 --> 00:03:18.680 finding the path that matches the playstyle you're developing, rather than randomly picking 00:03:18.680 --> 00:03:20.640 new ones for every moment. 00:03:20.640 --> 00:03:23.380 Immersive sims are also highly systemic. 00:03:23.380 --> 00:03:28.720 Most games are heavily scripted. Crazy stuff happens when you stand on invisible triggers, 00:03:28.730 --> 00:03:33.230 characters play one-off animations at specific bits, and obstacles in the game world just 00:03:33.230 --> 00:03:36.550 do exactly what they need to do in that moment, and nothing more. 00:03:36.550 --> 00:03:41.920 Immersive sims, however, are built from systems. So elements have globally defined characteristics 00:03:41.920 --> 00:03:46.430 which means every alarm post works the same way, every torch can be extinguished, and 00:03:46.430 --> 00:03:50.330 while different doors might have different properties, they're all based off the same 00:03:50.330 --> 00:03:52.200 generic door mould. 00:03:52.200 --> 00:03:56.560 There are also endless rules that the world follows. Enemies can find you based on sight 00:03:56.560 --> 00:04:01.420 and sound, and will then run off and trigger an alarm. Footsteps sound louder on tiled 00:04:01.420 --> 00:04:06.290 floors, turrets shoot who you tell them to shoot, and objects fall when pushed. Remember: 00:04:06.290 --> 00:04:08.380 physics were still novel back then. 00:04:08.380 --> 00:04:13.310 For a neat example of scripting versus systems, note how in Thief: The Dark Project, you can 00:04:13.310 --> 00:04:19.090 attach rope arrows to any wooden surface. Whereas In Thief 2014, which dropped a lot of 00:04:19.090 --> 00:04:24.820 the emergent sim stuff you can only plunge your grapple into beams marked with white rope. 00:04:24.830 --> 00:04:29.150 The less prescripted stuff means that immersive sims can be emergent. 00:04:29.150 --> 00:04:32.780 When two systems talk to each other, interesting new behaviours can emerge. 00:04:32.780 --> 00:04:37.360 These interlinking systems give the player opportunities to come up with 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:42.270 smart, intentional strategies that exploit the game's rules. Put a gas grenade on an 00:04:42.270 --> 00:04:47.919 alarm and then let yourself be spotted, to create a nasty trap. Coax this self-detonating enemy 00:04:47.919 --> 00:04:51.419 near a fragile door, and then kill it, to open a passageway. 00:04:51.420 --> 00:04:56.740 Emergent gameplay can also lead to a mad chain reaction that you could not possibly predict, 00:04:56.750 --> 00:05:01.669 and puzzle solutions that the developer simply didn't foresee. Like using LAM mines - which 00:05:01.669 --> 00:05:05.989 the player can safely stand on - as an endless ladder to clamber up walls. 00:05:05.989 --> 00:05:11.699 Immersive sims are consistent. They try to avoid special cases and one-offs, and there 00:05:11.699 --> 00:05:16.400 are rarely any failure states for anything other than getting killed. You won't find 00:05:16.400 --> 00:05:20.680 these games telling you to return to the mission area, or making you restart the level because 00:05:20.680 --> 00:05:24.669 an ally was killed in duty. The simulation just continues. 00:05:24.669 --> 00:05:28.560 There are limits, though. You can shoot any character you like in Deus Ex, but you can't 00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:32.120 just kill plot-relevant characters... until you're actually allowed to. 00:05:32.120 --> 00:05:35.650 And at that point, you'll find that immersive sims are reactive. 00:05:35.650 --> 00:05:39.860 The plot doesn't have to drastically change to reflect your choices, but characters will 00:05:39.860 --> 00:05:44.081 act in different ways and say different things to reflect on your decisions. Even if you 00:05:44.081 --> 00:05:45.850 thought no one would notice... 00:05:45.850 --> 00:05:50.810 MANDERLEY: By the way, Denton, stay out of the ladies restroom. 00:05:50.810 --> 00:05:56.340 The games judge your actions during gameplay, not in clearly designated choice sections. 00:05:56.340 --> 00:06:02.090 Clint Hocking, who was inspired by immersive sims with Far Cry 2, has said "by creating a 00:06:02.090 --> 00:06:07.889 chain of influence that cascaded between the narrative and the WASD keys, Deus Ex allowed 00:06:07.889 --> 00:06:12.689 players to experience the repercussions of their immediate input level actions as they 00:06:12.689 --> 00:06:17.240 echoed upward into the very plot of the game". 00:06:17.240 --> 00:06:22.199 So these are the tools that Looking Glass and Ion Storm used to make games that felt 00:06:22.199 --> 00:06:27.379 immersive. Not with photorealistic graphics or by getting rid of the HUD, but by letting 00:06:27.379 --> 00:06:29.189 go of the player's hand. 00:06:29.189 --> 00:06:34.349 Deus Ex, for example, was "designed, from the start, as a game about player expression, 00:06:34.349 --> 00:06:39.789 not about how clever we were as designers, programmers, artists, or storytellers" says 00:06:39.789 --> 00:06:44.729 director Warren Spector. "The game was conceived with the idea that we'd accept players as 00:06:44.729 --> 00:06:49.639 our collaborators, that we'd put power back in their hands, ask them to make choices, 00:06:49.639 --> 00:06:53.099 and let them deal with the consequences of those choices". 00:06:53.099 --> 00:06:57.211 To those of us who played them, immersive sims felt like the future. They let us do 00:06:57.211 --> 00:07:01.830 what we wanted, they reacted to our decisions, and they operated in spaces that acted more 00:07:01.830 --> 00:07:06.849 like a simulation of a real place than a phoney video game rollercoaster ride. 00:07:06.849 --> 00:07:12.879 But there were, after all, only a few of us. Deus Ex sold like 500,000 copies while Half 00:07:12.880 --> 00:07:17.430 Life - equally brilliant, but for a very different reason - shifted millions. 00:07:17.430 --> 00:07:22.710 Deus Ex was a cult classic, not a landmark title that would start a revolution. 00:07:22.710 --> 00:07:27.419 Immersive sims muddled along with the forgettable Deus Ex sequel Invisible War, the contentious 00:07:27.419 --> 00:07:32.150 third Thief game Deadly Shadows, and the more well received spiritual successor to Underworld, 00:07:32.150 --> 00:07:38.639 Arx Fatalis. But the closure of Looking Glass in 2000 and Ion Storm Austin in 2005, and 00:07:38.639 --> 00:07:43.919 the booming blockbuster success of more linear and scripted games, meant the design ethos 00:07:43.919 --> 00:07:45.520 kinda went away. 00:07:45.520 --> 00:07:50.091 It bubbled up here and there, mostly thanks to new Elder Scrolls and Fallout games, as 00:07:50.091 --> 00:07:55.300 well as BioShock from System Shock 2 designer Ken Levine, and Eastern European efforts like 00:07:55.300 --> 00:07:59.129 Pathologic out of Russia and STALKER out of Ukraine. 00:07:59.129 --> 00:08:05.340 But now, the genre seems to be making a triumphant return as games and names and ideas from Looking 00:08:05.349 --> 00:08:08.289 Glass and Ion Storm history have returned. 00:08:08.289 --> 00:08:13.419 The new Deus Ex games are made by all new people but are pretty faithful to the original 00:08:13.419 --> 00:08:17.970 game, other than the crappy inconsistent boss characters (who were mercifully changed in 00:08:17.970 --> 00:08:22.409 the director's cut edition), and slightly less scope for emergent gameplay. You'll get 00:08:22.409 --> 00:08:27.199 plenty of that in Dishonored, though, which comes from Deus Ex lead designer Harvey Smith. 00:08:27.199 --> 00:08:32.229 This stealth games lets you juggle loads of magic powers, and lots of interweaving systems, 00:08:32.229 --> 00:08:37.279 to come up with unique ways to assassinate your targets. It's also highly reactive to 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:42.849 your playstyle, with rats becoming more plentiful if you choose to murder loads of guards. 00:08:42.849 --> 00:08:46.420 And then there are all the upcoming games I mentioned in the opener, which should be 00:08:46.420 --> 00:08:51.480 very interesting. "While I've seen some efforts, especially from the guys at Arkane, to sort 00:08:51.480 --> 00:08:55.649 of extend the design philosophy of Looking Glass - I'd like to go further with that," 00:08:55.649 --> 00:08:57.230 says Spector. "It's nice to 00:08:57.230 --> 00:09:01.730 see more people trying, but I think there's a ways we could go as well, in terms of empowering 00:09:01.730 --> 00:09:06.680 players to tell their own stories. Those are the directions I'm going to try to go in". 00:09:06.680 --> 00:09:11.320 What I'm most excited by, is the opportunity to update this old philosophy with the tech 00:09:11.320 --> 00:09:12.660 and design of today. 00:09:12.660 --> 00:09:19.440 Immersive sims really take advantage of, well, sims. Simulations. And games are now much better at 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:24.910 simulating crowds, artificial intelligence, fire, weather, and physics. 00:09:24.910 --> 00:09:29.420 This genre can also learn from other types of games, and borrow stuff like 00:09:29.420 --> 00:09:32.269 stories that dramatically react to your actions like in 00:09:32.269 --> 00:09:36.870 Shadow of Mordor. And yes, they can also benefit from the photorealistic stuff to make these 00:09:36.870 --> 00:09:38.460 worlds even more believable. 00:09:38.460 --> 00:09:44.180 And going forward, there's VR: perhaps immersive sims are the perfect match for virtual reality. 00:09:44.180 --> 00:09:49.420 Indeed, even in the earliest days of Looking Glass, the studio thought about future technology. 00:09:49.420 --> 00:09:53.620 Major contributor Marc LeBlanc said "everyone was hearing about how virtual reality was 00:09:53.620 --> 00:09:57.810 coming and most people thought that virtual reality was a hardware thing. We were kinda 00:09:57.810 --> 00:10:01.691 coming at it from the software thing: if there's going to be a virtual reality that you're 00:10:01.691 --> 00:10:07.029 interacting with then it's gonna have to have rules and a simulation and stuff like that". 00:10:07.900 --> 00:10:12.680 But, ultimately, this a design ethos that just needs to be explored further. Immersive 00:10:12.680 --> 00:10:16.300 sims, with their system-driven worlds and consistent behaviour - are never going to 00:10:16.300 --> 00:10:21.251 be as flashy (or as profitable) as crazy, scripted, rollercoaster rides. But 00:10:21.251 --> 00:10:26.550 sims like Fallout and Deus Ex, and games with similar design goals like Metal Gear Solid 00:10:26.550 --> 00:10:29.769 V and Hitman, do something truly unique. 00:10:29.769 --> 00:10:34.690 "Simulations allow players to explore not just a space but a 'possibility space'," says 00:10:34.690 --> 00:10:39.060 Warren Spector. "They can make their own fun, tell their own stories, solve problems the 00:10:39.060 --> 00:10:43.670 way they want, and see the consequences of their choices. That's the thing that games 00:10:43.670 --> 00:10:49.490 can do that no other medium in human history has been able to do". 00:10:49.490 --> 00:10:54.220 Thank you so much for watching. If you are wondering where Boss Keys is, the episode 00:10:54.230 --> 00:11:00.459 on Majora's Mask is up next. As for Game Maker's Toolkit it is funded entirely by people on 00:11:00.459 --> 00:11:04.509 Patreon, who are amazing and I want to thank them all right now. But I'm going to give 00:11:04.509 --> 00:11:09.349 a special, on screen shoutout to everyone who donates $5 or more.