The Prey That Was Lost To A Loading Screen
Though I had seen many videos of Prey’s intro sequence many times over, playing it was much cooler. I was really surprised at how immersive it was. The conversations with my grandfather and girlfriend, the jukebox, and the television all brought the bar to life. Then the lights went down and the TV tuned into the colored bars that interrupted our regularly scheduled program. It was not a test this time, as something was really going down, something big. The ceiling and the beams started shimmering above. Don’t Fear the Reaper brilliantly played in the background to concert-like spotlights. But this wasn’t a concert and those weren’t spotlights. Grandfather was pulled up to the sky first followed by my girlfriend and then me. And then all of a sudden like a pail of water thrown on you to pull you from a deep sleep the game and its immersion are interrupted by a completely generic sci-fi shooter loading screen with really bad music and, of all things, tips.
I’m sorry, I’ve been playing games for a very long time, and I’m shocked at how many people just don’t get it. There was so much time and energy that was put into that opening scene to make it hook me, to set the scene for the game, and to immerse me in its world. This effort was effective as I was totally hooked. I was pulled into that bar and up into some weird craft in a way that had me taken with it all. Then I was ripped out of my immersive state by a poorly implemented loading screen. The screen was generically designed with music that was completely disconnected from the scene you had just experienced and included game tips. Oblivion did a similar thing to me. There I was in this huge epic fantasy experience, about to delve deeper into a dark cave and I see a loading screen with the same tip I had read 10 times before. I was even more shocked with Prey because immediately following the loading, the game slowly pulled me back in again as I was being carted around these awesome and freaky environment like a slab of meat. I can’t help but think how cool it would have been to have a loading screen that wasn’t so wrenching.
In Drama 101 they talk about distance and the relationship of the audience to the story unfolding before them. This distance needs to be carefully nurtured in order to tell a story optimally. There are times the playwright wants the audience to be drawn in deeply or to purposely isolate them from what they see. My question to the Prey designers is why bother to work so hard to draw the game player into a story to then forget about that goal entirely between levels? It’s a disservice to their own effort to create story driven immersion.
I downloaded the 360 demo of Prey as soon as I got home. I enjoyed it overall, but these loading screens really got to me. There are a lot of types of games where a loading screen like this would be fine. That being said, when effort it made to bring the gamer into the world, effort should be made to keep him/her there. Don’t get me wrong as regardless I have had a lot of fun with the Prey demo so far. It is just an issue that really stood out in my play experience. The change in music, the ugly design, and the presentation of tips stopped my emotionally engagement in the game immediately. Loading screens may be a reality we still have to contend with this generation; however I think I’m going to go and pop in Metroid Prime in just to remind myself that loading can be creatively handled. Metroid Prime kept me on Tallon IV from the moment I started to play until I turned off the Cube. One of the factors that contributed to this is how well the loading was hidden and integrated into the game world. I would shoot a door and if loading was needed there was a slight delay before the door opened. No separate screen was needed.
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3. July 2006 at 18:30
So true. I’d prefer a fade-to-black with “Loading” stuck on a scrollbar than a badly-designed long-lasting immersion-breaking screen. Oblivion on the 360 is terrible for that. Burnout Revenge can get away with it because it doesn’t try to be anything other than a series of disconnected sessions.
But hey, setting up immersion and then shattering it painfully seems to be par for the 360. Look at Tomb Raider Legend with its giant PRESS B NOW buttons appearing on the screen at crucially dramatic moments.
4. July 2006 at 09:41
[…] The game chair points out that this is exactly what happens in video games, with alarming regularity. […]
4. July 2006 at 13:12
Note: We hate those tip screens too, but they are a Microsoft requirement if loading takes a certain length of time or longer. Note that on the PC version we do not have them.
Scott, CEO, 3D Realms
5. July 2006 at 06:51
Wow, a comment from Scott Miller himself, pretty cool.
I quite liked the tips, as it goes. I learnt a few gameplay elements, some more about the characters, and unforunatley a spolier about the “Sphere”.
The loading screens are of course, unavoidable if you don’t want a performance penalty like WoW and other no-load-games. But in terms of the load from the bar to the ship it would have been nice if the load screen was somehow merged with the storyline. Perhaps it wouldn’t have worked, but a green spinning vortex for 90 seconds would have been more immersive. Perhaps.
But you still lose the sense of urgency that was built up with the alien attack. Perhaps the bar and the first level could have been combined, but I’m no games-developer so maybe I’m asking for the difficult or impossible.
5. July 2006 at 07:29
It seems silly that Microsoft itself imposes load screens. I guess PC is still the platform of choice for hardcore gamers, despite all the marketing and maneuvering of Microsoft in the console marketplace. Also: I know a mod for the PC version of Oblivion eliminates the annoying area loading notification at the bottom of the screen.
5. July 2006 at 15:05
Re: Andrew’s comment, while it may seem silly that MS would dictate such things, it’s pretty much industry standard for a publisher to have a checklist of things that they look for in all their games before they let them go gold. Specifically it’s to ensure a baseline level of quality (”our customers will always have something to read during loading screens”), although oftentimes it just ends up being stupid rules you have to change your game to conform to.
5. July 2006 at 15:31
Re: Darius K.’s comment, if you are in the know .. are these standards something that is unique to consoles and the platform owners or does this also happen with publishers on the PC side of the fence?
5. July 2006 at 15:43
I’d like to add that published imposed “restrictions” aren’t always a bad thing. For instance some of Microsoft’s and Nintendo’s quality standards have really added to the reputation of the platforms as a whole. Example: Xbox Live multiplayer. However, I do agree that “interactive” loading screens may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but simply don’t work with some games. My solution: no loading screens! Ever! Can’t be done you say . . . well what about Halo, or Metroid Prime? The pure genius of hiding a loading screen behind a hallway + door animation in Metroid Prime CANNOT be overstated. It truly is the perfect non-obtrusive loading screen.
5. July 2006 at 16:00
Jake - I agree that certain standards can be a positive and I agree with your Live multiplayer example. Certainly no loading would be ideal. Has there been an FPS that didn’t have loading yet? Sorry that will lead down a different road.
What is interesting about this particular standard is that game designers might not be able to creatively address loading as was done in Metroid Prime if their loading times exceed Microsoft’s cut off point since the designer would be required to include a tip according to what Scott Miller shared above.
I couldn’t imagine the Metroid Prime approach being as effective if Retro had to put tips by the doors why you waited.
I also want to be clear that this blog was about the effect of the loading and tips on immersive game experiences as I experienced playing the Prey demo. There are plenty of games where the loading and the tips for that matter are not that much of a distraction for me. I didn’t mind the loading in Doom for example. If fact, it gave me a chance to breathe. But Doom immersed me in action and not really in a world or moment the way the Prey demo and Oblivion did. I also didn’t mind the loading between levels in Chibi Robo. The game is brilliant in my mind (I really need to write about it) but did not provide the same kind of moody immersiveness such that a loading screen would bother me.
5. July 2006 at 16:20
Darius, I meant that one would think that Microsoft would encourage its developers to adapt streaming content. Well, duh, you should give players something to do while they wait. But reading tips definetly brings you out of the experience. Imagine waiting for HL2 to load, and being presented with a screen reading “PRESS ‘E’ TO OPEN DOORS!” and an action shot of Gordon Freeman firing a shotgun. That would make for a totally non-fluid experience. Minute load times are bad enough as it is.
12. July 2006 at 11:43
Halo does have loading screens, but they are so far apart that they don’t really break emersion for me. Also, Halo had frequent short pause loading screens (which often took place in a hallway like Metroid Prime) that worked incredibly well as far as being the perfect length (somewhere around 1 second long). On the other hand short pause loading screens in Oblivion tend to be 2-5 seconds long; just long enough to cause me to diagnose a lockup and reboot my 360.
Loading has always been a delicate balance between story and graphical functionality, and I think plenty of developers don’t really have time to take it that seriously. Also, I think that pressure on developers tends to fall more on the “pushing the graphical envelope side” than on the “shorter loading and higher framerate side” of the equation.