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Principles of Virtual Sensation
If, as in the game Burnout: Revenge, objects fly by extremely quickly, the impression is of very high speed. If the objects seem to move past slowly, or if there aren’t enough objects in the environment, the impression of speed is lost. In the Cube Movement 3 demo, the actual speed of movement is identical in the “Slow” and “Fast” options. In the “Fast” version, however, the small tiled texture on the ground provides a frame of reference for movement, creating a much greater impression of speed. This impression of speed exists in all virtual sensations, from Mario to Burnout, and relies primarily on spatial context and scale. If the objects moving past are very large compared to the object being controlled, like the ground in the “Slow” version of Cube Movement 3, the impression will be that the object is moving very slowly. Obviously, altering that scale relationship, as in the “Fast” version, makes the motion seem much faster. Player perception is also heavily affected by representation. In Shadow of the Colossus, the colossi move very slowly, cause “camera shake” with their footfalls, and kick up huge amounts of dust and dirt particles as they move. The impression that they are massive, hulking beings of solid stone is extremely compelling and convincing. If they moved more quickly, or did not have those additional effects to represent other aspects of their size, this impression would be shattered. This is because the relative scale of objects in a game creates expectations in the player about how these objects should behave. A massive object needs to behave like a massive object, a tiny one like a tiny one. From the most massive boulder to the tiniest kernel of dust, if it’s going to move it needs to move appropriately.
Context is important in just about every game. Even in a simple game like the original Tetris, Alexei Pajitnov had to decide that the playing field would be ten blocks wide by twenty blocks high. If the grid were instead three wide by twenty high, Tetris would be a much different game: |
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