Level Up.pdf

Death: What is It Good For? 277
the whole screen blood red, monochromatic or blurry, can be used too.
Sound and music can drop off and be replaced by heavy breathing and a
heartbeat. In Batman: Arkham Asylum, whenever the player is hit by a taser
attack, the screen ’ s video “ short circuits. ”
Other systems that defy classification have shown up over the years. In
Sonic the Hedgehog, as long as the player holds one collectable ring, they
cannot be killed. Or at the other end of the scale, Bushido Blade 2 featured
so many one - hit kill attacks that the health bar was completely dropped.
Players can regain health with the aid of power- ups, increases in level or
experience and even time. Halo: Combat Evolved pioneered the concept of
regenerating health in first person shooters. As long as the player wasn ’ t
taking damage, the health meter would refill at a slow but steady rate. The
Ratchet and Clank games ditched health altogether as the developer wanted
the player to reach the end of the game, not constantly see a game over
screen.
Whatever method of displaying health is used, the player should clearly
know when they are getting hurt and losing health. Don ’ t skimp on the
dramatic animations and particle effects. Both a hit sound effect and a
vocal reaction ( “ ow! ” , “ oomph! ” , and so on) should play. Health should
deplete in a very obvious manner, because with every hit the player is closer
to losing their life.
Death: What is It Good For?
Let ’ s face it, lives and the game over screen are an outmoded concept.
When video games first arrived, their goal was to suck quarters as fast as
possible out of the player ’ s pocket. The best way to achieve that was to
make the player want to keep playing despite being killed as often as
possible. Additonal lives became a good short- term goal for the player to
keep in the game. When game characters became little people in lieu of
blips and spaceships, the concept of dying came with them. (After all a
spaceship doesn ’ t die, does it?) The emotional impact of the finality of
dying (Unless … Quick! Get that next quarter into the slot!) was too good to
pass up.
When games moved to home systems, lives followed — but the players had
paid for their game and there were no more quarters to gain. So why kill the
player? Why not let them finish the game they ’ ve paid for?
Another problem with killing off a player often is that it discourages the
player from continuing the game fairly. For example, players of Doom
(id,1993) found that it was easier to restart the game from a saved file than