"Motivation"and immersive design

What’s my motivation?

Before we dive in, what do we mean by "motivation"?

Well, let's talk film for a second.

“Motivation” in film

When something in a film is "motivated", like the camera movement, the camera perspective, the staging, the lighting, etc. it means it exists to serve the story and push it forward. 

For example, in Pulp Fiction when Butch is hearing Christopher Walken's character's famous speech, we are at an angle looking up at Walken.

Even though it isn't quite a POV shot from Butch, we still get the feeling of an adult talking to a child. This makes his speech more impactful and immersive. You start to feel like Butch.

This scene wouldn't have the same subtle impact if this was shot at a different angle or from a different perspective. On the flip side, a POV style shot won’t deepen the immersion if that shot isn't motivated.

Immersion breaking and “Motivation” in games

Our goal at Subtlebrick Studios is to create immersive experiences. And we are constantly looking out for "immersion breaking elements".

An "immersion breaking element" is anything in a game that reminds me I'm playing a game. This can be a tutorial that shows me the real-world button mappings, cut scenes where I'm no longer in control of my character, etc.

A subset of immersion breaking elements is a "restrictive game element". These elements are any limitation of a game that creates dissonance with reality. This can be invisible walls in open world games or the fact its raining in the game, but the sun is shining through your window.

Some of these elements can be handled by the player controlling their real-world environment. Some of these elements can be controlled by the game designer. And some exist because, well, games aren't real :)  

We look at all those elements and try to see them as areas of opportunity. Instead of breaking immersion, what if they deepened it? Instead of trying to avoid or ignore the limitations, we try to embrace them. 

How? 

Motivation.

Wherever possible, we want every game element to be motivated. It should serve the story and move it forward. And hopefully by doing so, the story and game will become more immersive.

This means obvious things like avoiding in your face tutorials and other "out of game" or "player only" prompts. Or put in another way, if the game character can't see it, neither can the player, and vice versa.

For example, let's look at Hollow Knight (a game we really like, by the way).

(First, how good does that look, right? Really great art style and aesthetic. #GOALS Anywho...)

In this example, there are elements on this screen that are only available to the player, and not the character. "Inspect" and "Interact" are only there for you, not for our knight. Even the heads-up display (HUD) showing the life meter (or soul for those of you who have played it) which is "required" given the nature of the game is also only for the player. These elements can be considered "immersion breaking" and as far as the story is concerned, "unmotivated".

So...

Without giving too much away, these are the types of elements we look at to see if we can make them "motivated" to deepen the immersion.

What do you think? What elements "take you out" of a game?