Say you encounter a locked door in an adventure game. The player needs to find a key or something equivalent to open it. There may be alterative solutions, eg crawl through vent, but these also require specific actions or state.
This is a Rigid System.
Compare this to a first person shooter where the player encounters a monster guarding an opening. The player as many options: shoot, stealth, run, etc. No special state is needed, problem is picking best approach and surviving.
This is a Squishy System.
Rigid systems requires the player to understand what the designer was thinking. It is never clear that the player is in the right state (eg has a certain key) to overcome an obstacle. There is always the problem of getting stuck without knowing why.
Squishy Systems are always possible to complete, no special state is needed. Worst case, the player lacks resources (eg ammo) and/or skills to bypass the obstacle. In these cases, player can still try but will die. Getting stuck is not really possible as the game resets on death.
(Note that death is meant in the abstract sense. It just means some mechanic where player fails and is given a chance to have another go or potentially just skip the obstacle)
Most games rely on Squishy Systems as their bulk gameplay. Reason is that it just feels better to play in these systems. Goals are more clear and it feels like u are causing progress (eg killing monster) rather than discovering it (eg finding key) = Increased Agency.
The big question now is: What other play systems can be made Squishy? Could we make more narrative play, eg verb set of an adventure game, Squishy?
There are some interesting examples. Eg Fallen London and 80 days are sort of Squishy.
Current thinking for achieving this:
Lots of details for these points and more stuff involved too. Just wanted to give the briefest of overviews to show I think this is doable.
For now just wanted share the idea of Squishy Systems in general.
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Challenge is interesting as u do not want it to boil down to any obstacle being trivial or easily solvable with certain op mechanic.
Feels like games with combat has the same issues though and has solutions. Eg, limited resources and obstacles immune to some tactics.
Also, crucial to see the “every obstacle is always solvable" not as an issue, but as the big opportunity.
And have to be aware that reaching it will require new challenges (eg balance) and sacrificing other aspects (eg forcing player path)
Yeah, to me the solution lies in having an interesting economy where a "puzzle" means trading resources. Then some form of planning/skill element lies on top of that.
Shooter has: health & ammo + aiming & target selection.
For a generator puzzle u would want some resources (eg energy, scrap and reputation) and then interesting play (eg can always fix it by throwing resources at it, but can can risk reputation points and spend less scrap)
Two questions that are sometimes conflated:
The answer to the first question is almost certainly YES; the answer to the second is almost certainly NO.
[Fun history lesson below is a reminder that not every architecture that researchers consider turns out to be the right architecture.]
I know it's not exactly a massive step separate from Let's Plays, but it's still absolutely wild to me that Twitch streamers were just hanging out and watching TV all day and it was called "the meta" and not, "a crime that will obviously backfire very soon."
I know it's messy. I've argued that LPs aren't even Fair Use despite there being obvious incentive for me to argue that they are. I think my job is less legally protected and more a thing that the industry collectively decided to keep.
Me playing Elden Ring doesn't directly replace the idea of you playing Elden Ring, but people regularly go watch TV with a buddy and don't pay for it. Press copies exist because my coverage can increase sales. No one's giving a free copy of a show for you to just... show people.
