With tablet consoles becoming one of the most popular pieces of technology in circulation at present, they serve as the most likely flagship for a game aimed at the mid core genre. Games which are not only aimed at the traditional market but also are aimed at a new market, people between the ages of 30-50 with commitments that would make a traditional hard core game too time consuming to play properly.
The problem with tablets however is that they use a completely different input systems compared to traditional gaming systems since they do not have buttons, also due to the small screen constraints the UI and other inputs must be completely minimalistic. These elements do not translate well to a game that is built around speed reactions in any significant way, however luckily the focus of mid core games should not be speedy reactions or competition lest we loose non-traditional gamers from our target market.
So a tablet seems to be almost purpose built for a mid core game, the two seem to go together like.. I dont know a car and wheels?
Anyway if the main reward we are giving to our player is not the same as traditional games 'achievement and feelings of superiority and adrenaline' what are we going to be offering to our players?
Well lets look at some games that are successful without working on adrenaline based reaction time rewards!
The Room:
The room was a very successful iphone game app which did not in any way work on adrenaline or thumb speed dominance reward models. The entire game focused around a very intricate safe, you are given a letter from the man who owns it, he states that you are the only one he trusts to open it. After that the only objective of the game is to figure out how to open the safe and find out what is within, it is a deeply rewarding puzzle game with a minimal set up meaning the game play is uninhibited.
It is a great example of a successful mid core game which works solely on mechanics, it is a challenge of wits which allows the player to test their cognative functions against the game, presumably this could be enjoyed by anybody who has ever played a crossword or sudoku.
This game teaches us that puzzle based games make great mid core mechanics, as they allow players to test their mental skills against the game and feel validated when they succeed, however these types of games have a certain failing. Once the player fails to defeat a puzzle or challenge presented by the game it immediately loses any sort of joy to the player, it stops being something that the player wants to do and instead becomes something they have to do. Some games have found the workaround to be giving the player an option to skip that part of the respective gameplay, however I do not think this to be an adequate solution to the problem, you do not feel like you accomplished anything when it is handed to you, it would be like being able to have the boss of a level killed for you. Perhaps it would be better to have a multitude of ways to solve a puzzle while keeping it at the same level of difficulty, because not being able to solve a puzzle immediately makes somebody feel worthless.
Puzzles and mental challenges are a good as a mechanic however I feel that such a game would not really be a mid core game but more of a casual game if it was simply a puzzle collection, there needs to be slightly more to a game in my opinion. One thing that fiction has proven is that everybody loves a good story so maybe that is what is missing. The thing that really makes The Room a captivating game is how its minimalistic storytelling brings the player into the situation properly without making them feel as though they should be overwhelmed by it all.
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