ERRR... "One Play" Games

The game-play style in the three games selected were interesting, mostly due to the fact that I have never played a “one play” game before. Another interesting factor was what the game was trying to say by using the “one play” motif. In “You Only Live Once,” the game play seems similar to that of a Super Mario type format with simple jumping and walking forward action but it differs in design due to the fact that if you die once your game is over. There is no way to circumvent the finality of the player’s death and if you attempt to start the game over you end up right where you left off – dead. In “One Chance,” the player finds out that a medicine they created is actually going to kill the world in six days. It is this knowledge of the impending end that drives the action of the player but ultimately the end comes and there is little the player can do to stop it. Again, as with the previous game, once you die the game is over and there is no way to circumvent this. In the final game “(Why is) Johnny in an Art Game?” the game player is similar to that of “One Chance” but is different because unlike in “One Chance” the player is not actually allowed any choices but to walk forward till the player dies. Each game allows limited action and ultimately the player really has no choices within the game play – it just seems that choices can be made. These games were fun to play but also very frustrating as I felt a compelling need to finish or at least have the ability to finish the game. I attempted to work around the game and opened each in a new web browser (first I used Chrome and then IE) and I was able to start a new game but yet again when I died there was no way to finish the game. After my second run through the games and each game still ending in the same way I realized that even if I wanted to work around the “one play” style that I would be hard pressed to find a way to do it and that to circumvent the “one play” style would actually ruin the intent of creator and the message the creator is trying to put out there by the creation of the game.

Because of the “one play” style of these games I was forced to take notice of the underlying theme in each game. In “You Only Live Once,” the game made me notice that I have this insane need to be ABLE to finish a game and the frustration I felt at not being able to finish. It gave me a feeling of impotence and made me think “why play a game that has no real goal?” but when I looked at it as a game that provides a message I was able to let go of the NEED to finish the game. In “One Chance,” I was able to see right away that the game was so much more than just a game to play for fun – there was a message behind it. In this game the purpose behind the “one play” aspect was to make the player realize that all actions have consequences and when the world is ending there is only a few choices left before the end; make a choice to attempt to stop the end of the world, or to hang out with friends, or to stay around your family. Each choice reveals something about the type of choices a person makes in life and the consequences of those choices. In “(Why is) Johnny in an Art Game,” the games sole purpose is (in part to make fun of “One Chance”) to show that if the end of the world is actually near that any choice you make means nothing – the end will come no matter what. Personally I do not like the “one play” games as I play games to escape the world and in these games a player plays with the sole intention of finding the hidden meaning that the “one play” style tries to flush out.