I played one of the most highly acclaimed walking simulator games from game designers: Journey!
Journey is a walking simulator game made by Sony Computer Entertainment. There is a Steam version and an iOS mobile version of the game. I played with the iOS version, so I will be talking about the game in terms of its mobile version. The game is rated as E (everyone) which is 6+.
Some types of fun evoked by this game include sensation, challenge, fellowship, and most importantly, discovery. This game is very cleverly designed to enhance these multiple types of fun. I will be further explaining how the elements of Journey strengthen these types of fun.
After playing the game myself, I realized it might be hard for children of young ages to really appreciate the game even though the game rating is E. The game mechanics are indeed simple since there are only 4 main buttons/controlling areas that I had to work with while playing the game including movement, view, jump, and one single special ability button. The controllers enhanced the sensation type of fun since the haptics associated with gaining power and jumping is sensational. However, the simple mechanics of the controllers don’t compensate for the complexity of the puzzles in the game – by which I mean there is not a clear set of instructions to start with. Everything about the game is unclear, and players have to learn by traversing across the game space and performing specific actions/interactions. This can be hard, but it also enhances the challenge type of fun since it is not just a simple of walking across a territory. Additionally, the game space boundaries seems to be pretty big since the players can’t see the physical boundaries of the game space – all players can see is an endless desert. I think this element can encourage more advanced users by targeting the discovery type of fun. Advanced users can feel an urge to navigate and discover the uncharted territory. Finally, there are some additional players/characters in the game that helped me with unlocking some magic cloth which enhances the fellowship type of fun.
Me and the additional character after unlocking the giant cloth that connects the ruins.
I really enjoyed playing this game because it strongly appealed to my emotions in the sense that I both felt a strong sense of accomplishment and I also felt pretty discouraged at one point. Some particular moments of success include when I unlock the area that releases the magic cloth that gives you the ability to fly, and one of the proudest and happiest moments was when I unlocked the giant cloth that connects the ruins. One huge moment of failure for me was when I navigated the entire area of ruins (the same place where I felt my moments of success later on) and left because I didn’t know what to do. I spent like 20 minutes just walking around and jumping up on ruins and going back down to collect more cloth without figuring out what to actually achieve.
