The Importance of Game Engine in a Game

by Irwin Kwan 

When it reaches the point that I am writing a follow-up to a follow-up, I dearly hope that this argument is beginning to tread on the path that we call "Persona Preference." In addition, as a disclaimer, I want to state that this is merely for the sake of discussion, and no personal attacks are intended.

I would like to start out by stating that I have been misquoted.

"Irwin Kwan, in his editorial "Why Do We Play SquareSoft Games?", tries to argue that the reason for the popularity and success for Square's games is not their storylines, but their gameplay."
- Andy Church

I do not state that Squaresoft games are popular because of their game engine. I state that the games should be loved because of their game engine. As a result, the above statement is incorrect.

Andy Church made a good comment about the previous editorial, "Why do we play Squaresoft Games?" Let us extend the topic from the narrow range of "Squaresoft role-playing games" to "console role-playing games". The term "console role-playing games" applies to video games released on consoles that follow a format of "walkabout mode" (in which you walk around and manage your party's equipment and status) and "fighting mode" (in where one can dictate a battle, often by menu command). The reason that people should play role-playing games is for the game engine. The game engine should be the reason that one is intrigued by a console role-playing game. If the focus of the story moves away from the game engine over to another element, such as the storyline, game programmers pick up this change and manufacture their games based on what the players supposedly want. If the emphasis is placed too much on the storyline, then a game company turns into a group of writers rather than programmers. They begin to program a multimedia novel, and not a video game. This is why the game engine should be the focus of the game, rather than the story.

There are many games that have inflated story presentation destroying the overall gaming experience. Usually, this is done by adding more 'watching' than 'playing'. Examples of these types of games are Origin's Wing Commander IV and Sierra's Phantasmagoria, and among them, other "interactive movies." The interactive movie genre in general has not been extremely popular among the gaming community. Why not? Because playing this type of game tends to feel more like watching a movie with annoying interruptions than it does an actual game. Does it disturb you to hear someone's cell phone go off during a movie? If it does, then that is likely the feeling that you will experience when you play an interactive movie. Interactive movies focus entirely on storyline, with no thought whatsoever to gameplay. Wing Commander IV may be the exception out of the examples, but a number of dissatisfied players have stated that the simulation in Wing Commander IV existed only because they ripped it off of Wing Commander III. Please note that these games have gone so far overboard with their stories that they fail to mesh with the genre of "console role-playing".

Now, let us observe the path that current role-playing games have taken. Let us look at Final Fantasy VII. Has there been another game in history that has fallen under such extreme scrutiny and such extreme praise than Final Fantasy VII? When another game happens to have full-motion video in it, it did not get torn apart by critics. Not so in Final Fantasy VII. Why have we seen such a change here?

While the full-motion video is great, many people constantly state that the space used by the full-motion video could have been better used. Other than the people who dream of seeing Final Fantasy VII for the N64, the players who do not like the full-motion video would rather see their ones and zeroes go to a bigger and better game. By taking out one of the Gold Saucer gondola videos, you are freeing up one forty-fourth of Final Fantasy VII's game size. With that five megabytes of space, you could add about seventy-one new enemies, thirty-three new field screens, sixteen new graphics for summoned monsters, or ten new mini-games. This is in exchange for the clip where we see a statue of Dio float by the screen. Now, this is not a full-out statement that all the full-motion video should be removed from all video games. But it raises the question, when is it wanted and unwanted? Should the space that can be used to add three large dungeons be used to show a movie that has little dramatic significance?

An immensely scary thought is the possibility that Final Fantasy VIII will become a full-motion video interactive movie that rotates entirely around the storyline. With the advent of a Final Fantasy Movie, this thought can be a reality. Those who play a game purely for the storyline will think that this is a joy, perhaps. But many players will be disappointed.

The point is, learn to appreciate the game engine before it's too late.

Fortunately, the above statement of impending doom may never come true. With a game such as Final Fantasy Tactics receiving a warm reception, it may yet prove that the game engine is more important than the game. It happens to have the elements that a good game engine should have: control, the need for intelligent thinking, proper simulation. Most importantly, the game engine has proved to be fun to many players. Now, where does the story fit into this? The story adds to the game engine. It gives the game engine an added depth. Instead of seeing data structs and coloured pixels moving around on a two-dimensional array, we see people moving on a battlefield, fighting. That is what the story does to a game. The story takes the game engine and makes it that much more real. It is certainly important in giving that boost to the game's overall product.

But without the game engine, what do we have?

We have a pathetic knock-knock joke, something with no substance. We have a cockroach, something that is filthy and horrendous. We have a rapist that violates everything that we believe about gaming. What should be the worst of all, though, is that we have dissatisfied game players.

But we don't.

Or do we?

Remember these statements the next time you pick up a console role-playing game.