CGT 390 Player-centered Approaches to Designing Games

Report 3 : Bastion (Mobile) Redesign

By: Michael Maslowski
Background:
Bastion is an action role-playing game that was produced by Supergiant and published in
2011 by Warner Bros. The game focuses on a kid trying to collect shards to power the bastion
after an event called the calamity. While exploring the ruined environments, the Kid encounters
various enemies, characters, and resources.

Gameplay Loop:
The central gameplay loop involves two settings: the bastion and the selected level. The
bastion acts as a central hub area that the player returns to after each mission. The selected level
is a mission that the player can partake in after choosing it at the bastion area. These two settings
are core to the game and house the gameplay elements of the game.
The gameplay loop starts with the selected level. Once the player enters the level, they
begin a game-phase I’ll call ‘the exploration phase’. During the exploration phase, the player
navigates the environment to obtain items, currency, health, experience, and story-related
information. Additionally, some environments hold hazards that can damage the player. This
exploration phase also holds several events I’ll call ‘fight phases’. Fight phases can occur
anytime the player is in the exploration phase and can consist of small groups of enemies or
waves of enemies. These fight phases provide currency and experience to the player at the cost of
some damage sustained in battle. The exploration phase is finished when the player reaches the
objective of the selected level which is often the retrieval of items called cores. Once a core is
obtained, a game-phase I’ll call ‘the chase’ begins. The chase is a fast paced event where the
player must run to the end of a level while trying to fight off enemies. During the chase, a player
can obtain health, currency, items, and experience. Once the player reaches the end of the level,
they are sent to the bastion.
The bastion, as mentioned before, is the central hub area. After returning from a mission,
a player can insert any obtained cores into the bastion to upgrade it. If the bastion is upgraded,
the player is given the option to build a new building. These buildings allow the player to trade
currency for items. Some items can be used as materials, and with the addition of some currency,
the player is able to upgrade their weapons using them. The bastion also houses characters that
are important to the story of Bastion. The player can interact with these characters to learn more
about the history and narrative. After this area, the player can enter a mission selection menu and
choose the next mission for the selected level.
Mechanics:
The game contains many mechanics. The different mechanics will be broken into groups
of related topics.
- Weapons: The game contains 11 different weapons. Each weapon has unique properties
as well as differentiating statistics such as range, damage, and speed.
- Blocking: The player is given a shield that can prevent damage and stun enemies. If the
shield is put up right before an attack, the attack gets reflected to the enemy.
- Skills: Skills are special moves that a player can use for combat, require skill potions to
use, and only 1 can be equipped. There are 8 skills within the game and each weapon has
2 skills connected to them for a total of 30 skills.
- Levels: After the player obtains a certain amount of experience, they will level up and
increase their max health.
- Potions: There are health and skill potions that can be found within the game. If the
player picks up one of these potions while full on their respective resources, the player is
given experience instead of the resource.
- Movement: The player can roll to evade damage. This roll can be used with little delay.
There are also environmental objects that provide movement options such as moving
platforms and sky bridges.
- Enemies: Enemies have set attack patterns and statistics. Some enemies can damage other
enemies with their attack.
- Story Items: There are items within the environment that hold narrative value. The player
can interact with nonplayer characters to receive their input and perspective on said
items.
- Upgrade Items: There are items with the environment that can be used as a resource in
upgrading weapons.
- Environment: As the player explores an environment, the layout of the environment will
build around the player.
- Spirits: Game-affecting items that provide a bonus to the player. The number of spirits
that can be equipped is limited to their character’s level.
- Arsenal: The building where a player can customize their loadout. After exiting the
Arsenal, the narrator will comment on the player’s choice of weapons.
- Forge: The building where a player can use upgrade items and currency to upgrade
weapons.
- Distillery: The building where a player can equip spirits.
- Lost-and-Found: The building where a player can use currency to purchase upgrade
items, items a player overlooked in a level, and new spirits.
- Shrine: The building where a player can enable idols that increase the difficulty for
increased rewards.
- Memorial: The building that contains challenges that reward the player with currency
upon completion.
- Narrator: An ever-present character that narrates and commentates on the game, player,
and environments
UI, Visual Language, and Design Principles:
The UI of Bastion is rather clear to interpret. There is a button for switching weapons,
evading, blocking, attacking, skills, and settings. The buttons are placed in the bottom right
corner of the screen. The health bar of the player is represented by a bar at the top of the screen
that is only displayed when the player is missing health. New information is presented to the
player in a banner that appears towards the top of the screen.
Enemies have their health displayed in a bar that encircles the bottom of the enemy.
When an enemy is damaged, they turn red, display the damage above their head, and have a
white slash placed over them for the duration of the strike. If a player is damaged, the player will
turn red and a black and red slash is placed over them for the duration of the strike. If an enemy
is defeated, the experience awarded to the player is displayed where the enemy was while slowly
rising and fading.
Potions have a glowing border around them to attract the attention of players. Significant
objects such as weapons have white particle effects and a white circle that pulses from the
weapon. If a player misses the weapon, a blue arrow will appear over the weapon to signify its
importance. Story items and resource items have the same effects as weapons, but a blue arrow
does not appear if a player passes by the item. Currency is shown as a blue crystal that has blue
particles emitting from it.

Game Design and Flow, Immersion, and Engagement:

Since exploration is based on the location of the player, the level contains small platforms
with currency to guide the player in the proper direction. Once the proper direction is made, the
game allows the player to continue onwards until they reach a point of interest. This subtle
method of guidance allows the player to play without feeling as if they are being forced.
The environment also contains many interactable objects that can be broken when
attacked. This inclusion provides a sense of tangibility to the world which helps immerse the
player within the world.
Bastion also contains a narrator that is always present. This narrator is a character that
exists in the world and can be interacted with at the bastion. The narrator will provide the player
with the context of the game, the history of the world, and interpretations of events. Additionally,
the narrator is responsive to certain actions performed by the player. As a result, it helps provide
the sense of tangibility within the game which in turn helps immersion.
Bastion also provides a unique soundtrack as background music to the many scenarios
present of the game. From rapid paced music to calm and gentle singing, the variety of songs
present in the soundtrack allows certain settings to stand out in a distinct way.

Problems and Recommendations:

Amongst the vast content present in Bastion are some design flaws. One of these flaws is
the health indicators for enemies. Although the visual style is distinct to this game, it faces
several problems. In fights that contain multiple enemies, the health bars of some enemies
become very difficult to see. Another problem is that the health bar scales with the size of the
enemy. This causes certain enemies to have health bars that are too small and illegible.
A recommendation I can make to remedy this problem is to switch the style or position of
the health bar. For example, the health bar that circles the bottom of the enemy can be displayed
over the top of the enemy. Another possible change would be changing the circle style of the
health bar to a linear health bar.
Another flaw of Bastion is the skill mechanic. Although the game presents the player
with over 30 different skills, the game restricts the player to only 1 skill at a time. This design
seems strange when other aspects of the game, such as the weapon variety, promote unique
combinations. As a result, I would recommend an adjustment to the skill that allows the player to
equip multiple skills at a time.
The last flaw of Bastion that could be altered are weapons within levels. Weapons are
unlocked within their respective level when the player picks them up. However, players can run
past these weapons. This can lead to players missing these weapons on their first playthrough.
The only way to unlock these weapons after completing their respective level only appears much
later in the game when the lost-and-found building is unlocked, or the weapon’s challenge is
unlocked which occurs much later into the game.
A recommendation to remedy this problem is to present the player with a challenge that
requires the player to utilize the provided weapon within the level. This would allow the player
to try the weapon as well as unlocking it for the rest of the game.