Activision (Website)
Activation’s website first greets the user with a nationality selection screen. Immediately it is apparent how global the organisation is. After that screen disappears, two bars at the bottom and top of the screen appear and outline the content they contain. This is what the final screen looks like:
The centre screen contains two different games artwork with a ‘featured game’ video trailer running automatically. This could be so that the website is working at both a visual and audio level to entice users to explore their products. Looking at placement of objects on the page, Activision succinctly advertises around 10 + products on their home page. Furthermore due to the varying nature of art styles and the video playing in the centre of the screen, it is almost crystal clear to users that this is a games company website.
The Activision website, while expansive in covering every game developed/ published by the company, is somewhat ‘formal’. What is meant by formal is that no information about production or other details other than promotional materials and images for aesthetic purposes. This is likely due to Activision being the publisher to many studios, but not actually developing games as a whole often. Because of this, the developers will likely post much more information about each game on their own websites – leaving Activision to entice users into those websites.
Tale of Tales (Website)
One aspect of the website of Tale of Tales which struck me was that it was how it contained the same content as Activision’s site, but with far less ‘flashy’ and superficial features like flash script. This is likely to be an indicator of difference in funding for website design but in general I would say that it suffers slightly from this. Had I not known it was a games developer’s website, it would have felt as if it was book publishers due to no real indicators of intention from anything on the site other than the ‘covers’ of each game they have made. However due to the art-style being similar to those of book illustrations it is not clear they are games. Once those images are clicked, unlike Activision’s website which branched off into different subsections of the same site, Tale of tales has clear websites designated to each of their games.
One thing which is unique about how tale of tales presents themselves is how they lay out everything that has been done production wise. From the troubles to the successes, all of it is included in a ‘Post Mortem’.
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Tale of Tale’s games are very unique in several different ways. They often do not give specific targets for their players. In ‘The Path’ the player can select a character and after the loading screen, they are placed in the forest. The words flicker up saying: ‘Go to your Grandmother’s House. Stay on the Path’. There are no indicators of where the character’s Grandmother lives, other than the path and there is no HUD (Heads up Display) to aid the player. An atmospheric selection of light music and sound effects are the only audio but this changes effortlessly depending on what the character does. In my first play-through, being used to playing conventional ‘rules and targets are absolute’ style games, I chose to stick to the path and keep walking. The game lasted around 15 minutes and I was given the rank of D. The game revealed in the final statistics that there were hidden rooms, secret items and a chance at confronting a Wolf. I had done none of this because I had stuck to the Path. Did this mean that the game was expecting the player to stray from the path? Or was it trying to break the conventional rewarding those who stick to the rules? It seems like it is a mix of all of this as the presence of a ranking system means that straying from the path has rewards but giving the ‘stick to the path’ line at the start of play immediately sets a conventional player on that path.
Nevertheless, continuing with gameplay, I chose another character (Ginger) and set off with the intent to explore and find these hidden items. The game play experience was almost immediately different. The music changes, with hints of the eerie singing drowned out by a number of other darker sounds. A heartbeat begins when the Ginger runs too much and several transparent shapes immerge on the screen. One of these included animal footprints. Having seen the ‘Wolf Met: No’ on my previous statistics, immediately my playing style became much more guarded. I chose to stray from the path not as much as I was planning to; keeping close enough to be able to return in-case the wolf appeared. In a way, the path had become a lifeline, like a shield or place of safety. As items were found confidence grew to the point where I had strayed so far I couldn’t find my way back. Wandering for around 5 minutes exasperated, a girl running through the forest appeared in the distance. In confronting the girl there was no dialogue, she led Ginger away until they were back at the path. At the time I considered her a clever method for the developer to keep the player from being frustrated if they are lost, something no ‘good game’ should allow a player to be. But instead of disappearing into the forest once more, she stayed with my character to a point. If Ginger approached her, they would hold hands and the player could lead the two around. Often the girl would stop and look at things along the path. At one point having stopped playing, the two girls played ‘Pat-a-cake’ on the spot. It is little touches like this that had made that character something beyond just a ‘help’ to the player. I did not finish this play-through but I already had many questions about the game. Does leading the girl in the forest to your grandmother’s house lead to a different conclusion? Is there more to her than you see (a metaphor for the Wolf)? If not where is the wolf? And what do the items mean?
Tale of Tales games are clearly ‘’computer games’, in that you play and explore a 3D space, but they are not if you relate it directly to a conventional ‘game’ such as Call of Duty or Blur. Tale of Tale’s games are all about visual and audio interpretation of stories. They have delved into classical tales of Salome, Sleeping Beauty and in the Path, Little Red Riding hood. The developer aims to raise different questions in each player’s minds about what they are playing. The player might see The Path as a simple ‘collect’ game and take no heed to the audio and visual atmosphere, or as an annoyance due to the lack of indicated direction, adversary or competition. This is likely to be the reason why Tale of Tales boasts the positive of innovation, but lacks Mainstream appeal. Games are considered to be polished, but deliberate pieces which present the player with a clear challenge (be it a ‘Boss’ character, general enemies, lack of funds or even other players) within an environment of rules and rewards. The player gets a feeling of achievement or storyline at the end. Call of Duty and all of Activision’s games fit in these boundaries. Tale of Tales games focus on giving the player freedom, both in play and interpretation of what they feel they have to do. In my case, I felt as if I needed to stay on the path, but on my second play-through I set my target to stray and collect.
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