feotakahari

I was gonna compare and contrast Crosscode and Crystal Project, but I think that needs just one point of variance, and they have two.

One of several things Crosscode discusses is how a good designer creates gameplay, teaching the player to meet each challenge and using it as a springboard for another, harder challenge the player can also meet. “May every step form the path of your growth,” meaning, may you learn from and apply your experiences.

Crystal Project is about how a bad designer fails through an insistence on a single . . . narrative? Path? It’s not exactly “story,” but it’s not exactly challenges like in Crosscode, either. The throughline of the game is to linearly collect each of the crystals, and the Grand Master talks about punishing people for not following his vision. Meanwhile, the world is sprawling and non-linear, and there are a variety of ways to bypass the GM’s obstacles and explore on your own. In effect, the game calls for you to write the narrative yourself. Are you playing as the kind of person who goes after the crystals, or are you playing as the kind of person who sees what’s off the beaten path?

I feel like I could compare and contrast with a game about bad gameplay design or a game about good nonlinear narrative design, but I’m not sure what I would use. I guess Upgrade Complete technically qualifies for the former?