Monument Valley
For the class oral presentation I chose to talk about Monument Valley, mostly because I’ve always wanted to try the game (so now I can finally purchase it without guilt) and that I’m also very attracted to its graphics and gameplay.
Monument Valley is a game that plays a lot with optical illusions and dimensional tricks. It is said to be inspired by indie games Fez, Windowsill, and Sword and Sworcery. Fez is a game that also has elements of dimensional fields that allows players to play not just through the front view, but the side and back views as well. Windowsill plays with the human instinct of what to do when given certain things and finding the pattern of what to achieve, which is similar to Monument Valley as not much instructions are given (players figure out what to do themselves), and reaching a certain tile to complete each level by moving the character around the level (pattern of what to achieve). Sword and Sworcery mainly influenced the music and sound in Monument Valley, which is another feature of the game that makes it a beautiful experience.
The player solves each level by moving Ida, the main character, to a designated area which is marked by black square outlines. However, there are obstacles that stops you from reaching this tile, and players would have to solve these puzzles by three basic controls: tapping to move Ida to a certain tile, rotating spinners to rotate certain areas of the level, and sliding certain blocks to change the level arrangement, as shown below.
The game itself doesn’t contain a lot of instructions, but rather it focuses on designing things that looks out of place or uncoordinated to attract players’ attention, which fits its minimalistic design and approach. Each action also has their unique pattern and graphic to represent the movements needed. Things that are slidable has little dots on the direction they can slide in, and rotation items has a stirring wheel. Other items include a switch which usually has a colour that makes it pop out of the map; and doors that are either open or closed.
One less important part of the game which also makes it a delightful experience is the music. When a player does an action, let it be tapping or rotating, notes will be heard, and they surprisingly seem to match the BGM of the game. This makes the experience much more personal and interactive as everything you do is reflected back through the music. Another aspect of the game that makes it enjoyable is that a player can never lose in the game, they can take as much time as they want to slowly figure out the puzzle, or just simply enjoy the graphics and music.
