As most people did back in May this year, I played Bioshock: Infinite for the first time these past couple of weeks. Being a newcomer to the Bioshock series I didn't really know what to expect. This game is awesome. I never would have thought that I could like this game so much. Just about every part of this game attracted me. Whether it was the colorful art style, the ability to loot every corner of every level, or the phenomenal story, this game always had me coming back for hours upon hours at a time. Infinite seems to take many of the fine points of a common FPS and enhance them.
However, what I'm concerned about discussing in this post is the loot drops; namely the weapons and ammunition. It would probably be best if I started out with a situation that I encountered while playing the game.
As I entered yet another battle-ridden building in the floating city of Columbia, I encountered approximately fifteen dead bodies strewn across the floor. Just like any other normal, everyday person, I proceeded to loot all of the corpses. I had just been through numerous strenuous battle sequences so not only was I low on health, but low on bullets as well. After a while of searching, I realised that there was no guns lying on the ground and absolutely nothing on any of the bodies. Why in the world would the developers do this to me?
In my opinion it's really not the developer's fault at all. In fact, now that I look back at the incident it was a rather ingenious move on their part.
Level design is obviously a key component to making a great game. If a level doesn't flow properly, neither will the game. When creating levels for Bioshock: Infinite the developers packed in quite a bit of realism. To help the player along, the designers will provide various items at key points in the game such as guns, ammunition, and health packs. To keep the gamer submersed in gameplay, the designers surround these items with a purpose. If you want to introduce a new gun to the player, then place it next to the body of some poor soul who wouldn't go down without a fight. If there's a health kit that would be useful for later skirmishes, put it under a bathroom sink. It's just as important that the environment tells the story as much as the rest of the game does.
Now, in my situation above there was an obvious lack of supplies amongst the corpses. That's not to say that the designers simply got lazy and didn't finish the level. Since I walked into the room with no knowledge of how these people died, I also have no idea how they lost their weapons either. I simply thought that because they were killed by someone else, the killer must have taken the guns and ammunition from them. And I didn't have to think twice about it. The game moved on. What I'm trying to say is that a level will only flow properly if the player can easily come up with a valid reason as to why each object, wall, character, corpse, tree, or wildebeest in a level is where it is.
Another game where I've seen this element hinted at is Half Life 2. The ammo in this game is presented to the player in a similar sort of manner. However, it wasn't utilized as well as it should have been. To provide the player with more ammo, the designers just decided to place a futuristic machine gun on a shelf in a common house. Sure it's beneficial, but wouldn't that seem just a bit odd? I suppose that since they do this throughout the game it must seem to blend in to the back of the mind.
Of course, if the story is crap to begin with, you don't leave the player to come up with much of anything.
Really taking the time to think about the placement of items in any given level can mean all the difference in the world for the entirety of the game. Perhaps something out of place won't cause the title to crash and burn but maintaining this mindset can certainly give any game that much extra flair. Providing the player with the ability to create the story in their own mind can be very beneficial to any game and it should be implemented to some extent.
Give it some meaning...
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