Dev.log Green

Every now and again, I'll explore the Eshop on the Nintendo Switch or watch videos from my favorite gaming centric youtubers. In both occasions, I'm always exposed to some game or franchise that can either be a couple years to a couple decades old. A franchise I have always found interesting but never had the chance to dive into was Okami. I've heard that Okami is a cult classic and it's an underrated gem, and also it's a Zelda clone with a quadruped for an protagonist. To me, this statement is true and false at the same time.

The first thing that struck me were the aesthetics; despite how old the game is, it still looked really good for a game that definitely has a early 2000s look to it. The watercolor look really helps it stand out. The world to me is interesting and varied all around when visiting forests, towns, etc. with a whimsical and funny cast of characters, important or minor. The brush mechanic is something that I have yet see to be replicated and is something Okami pulls off with grace. One last major positive with the game is that there's not many four legged protagonist games on the market, so playing as a dog as a god was interesting. Now then, the claims about it being a Zelda clone can have arguments be made about it, sometimes very strong ones. Some of these claims include annoying insect like sidekicks that talk alot, puzzle centric dungeons, bosses that are defeated with weapons gained in these game dungeons, combat similar to Twilight Princess, etc. Also the game can be explicit but in a very pandering and pointless way, like showing cleavage unnecessarily and Amaterasu's sidekick having a stereotypical personality of a overconfident, shallow ladies man. The missions sometimes can either be boring, repetitive or way too easy. So the claims on both the positive and negative do have merit, some more than others.

There are elements from these that I want to learn from and incorporate into my own games in the near future. Elements I would take or get inspiration from are the fun and charming characterization of most of the NPCs, more unorthodox protagonists, more mechanics to get you involved with the world like the brush mechanics, and the aesthetics. Elements I would leave out missions that play or feel alike too often, easy challenge (which I forgot to mention this game's audience is for teens), and too much backtracking. I feel like this game is a good example of taking an established product and getting inspired to make something unique; at the same time, it also shows how sometimes wearing your inspirations on your sleeve too closely can result in copying rather than paying homage.

Exercise: There is an obvious lack of diversity (race, gender, religion, etc.) in leadership positions in America. Many researchers point to systemic cultural issues like implicit bias, lack of opportunity, and other inequities that more negatively impact people who do not fit in the narrow category of "straight white man." How could a game address some of these issues? What would have to be considered? Included? Excluded? Brainstorm what a game like this might look like, then reflect on your process. How could you use the experience of doing this exercise to improve the designs of your own future games? Remember to reflect on this exercise for your dev.log

Race in general is always a tough topic to cover and I'll try to explain my reasons the best I can. So, yes, there is a MAJOR disproportion when it comes to lack of diversity, without questions. Most of the time, you do see "a straight white man" as a leader, and it maybe because they worked hard to achieve said position or it could be because someone else was pushed aside for one biased reason or another. If I had to address this in a game there would be several critical factors to consider.

It could probably be a LA Noire style game, where you play a detective or some under dog that's being profiled just for who they are. Could be a black guy, Asian woman, Muslim trans. etc. On each mission you may have a party member who doesn't like you, and each member can switch between missions. You have a set of missions to complete with these individuals and once you complete enough of them, you can unlock some dialogue which may lead to loyalty missions, similar to Mass Effect 2. In these missions, your partner is stuck with getting intel or progressing their case, so when you try to take over, they're reluctant and ignorant. As you do these loyalty missions and uncovering more things, they begin to be more trustworthy and start following your directions and even let you take over. It will be an uphill battle for most of the game, but you'll gain more allies in the department and even begin to gain the respect of your superiors, even getting promoted at their level or above. Even so, as long as people rank above you, you'll still feel prejudice all around and will only have to work hard to prove yourself. The MOST important thing is to make sure all the characters, white or not, are written GOOD. If they're bad multicultural characters, they're bad because they're WRITTEN badly, NOT because their DIVERISTY is bad. Something as complex as diversity has to have a strong narrative if talking about regular humans and not something made up like orcs or elves. Witcher 3 has a strong grasp on how to tackle prejudice and racism from a race or wealth of class point of view; I would want to make sure my writing and characters are as fleshed out and self explained as those characters.

For me as a game designer, I've had some ideas where I want women to be the main character. Why? I think the question is "Why not?" because it doesn't really matter. Laura Croft could be Nathan Drake but it doesn't matter; Samus could be another guy but it doesn't matter; Ellie from the Last of Us could be a guy but it doesn't matter. Some cases like Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn matter to a degree because of the in game politics. I want diversity in my games, but if I feel a character is inadequate and it's NOT deliberate, than I feel the character would not be satisfactory. With me being a Cuban and Colombian, I'd rather see no representation for either culture than see a half baked, boring and overpowered character just because it's more insulting. It's like using your words; I'm sure many people would rather not have people say anything rather than give them a back handed compliment. So when it comes to lack of diversity and trying to discuss it, I would put all my focus and attention to the story and characters first before anything. Letting my bias or vision get in the way of objectively strong or weak storytelling wouldn't slide.