Aesthetics of Gorogoa

Gorogoa is one of the most inventive and beautiful puzzle games I ever met, unlike any that has ever graced video games. This essay will discuss the aesthetics of the game Gorogoa by referencing both Davison’s (2017) aesthetics lecture and the eight aesthetics presented in the famous MDA framework (Hunicke, LeBlanc & Zubek, 2004).

Introduction

1. Story

The game begins when a boy encounters with a mysterious, divine and colorful beast from his window. From that moment, he is obsessed with seeking it, calling on a journey to find and collect five orbs to summon the beast. The scenes in the game set in the 20th century, which includes peace, war, and rebuilding, and the life of the boy as a survivor of war, living through the rebuilding, and then reflecting on his past as an old man.

2. Gameplay

The game interface is simple which is divided into four panels inside of a square. The only controls are clicking, dragging and dropping to solve the puzzles. But in the game, most images can be manipulated on their own, like zooming in or out from the image, or changing the sequence of the images by dragging them into different panels. Framed is a game that breaks the shackles of time and uses different combinations of screens to tell multiple stories with different endings, and Gorogoa is a game that breaks the barrier of both time and space, combining multiple things in different times and places together.

Flow

Gorogoa has a good flow which balances the difficulty and the time/skill required. The difficulty grows when time goes by, which is to say the solutions grow more creative and obtuse as time goes on, although the path to get to those solutions stays as simple as clicking, dragging and dropping.

In terms of duration, Gorogoa usually takes the guest no longer than two hours to complete in its entirety, even though the guest may fumble around a bit. It is short, at least not long for a puzzle game, but everything that appears in the game is meaningful and cohesive to the story, and keeps the original story rhythm in a good way. In terms of difficulty, Gorogoa changes a lot from the earlier version to the official version which helps the game stay in a good flow. In the earlier version, the puzzle in the game is either too easy that can be solved without the guest’s brainstorming or too hard to find the clues. But, in the official version, the designer of the game tries to avoid those simple puzzles and  turns to make the guest discover the subtle connections between different scenes more and figure out what to do.

So, in this case, guests who play this game will neither feel bored because it is too long/short to play, nor feel terrible because it is too hard/easy to solve the puzzles.

Interest Curves

Gorogoa keeps its interest curve by its intriguing gameplay. At the very first of the game, it may not seem like there is much to do within these panels, however, it quickly becomes clear that this isn’t the case. The guest will be able to navigate left, right, up and down, and zoom in or out. Objects in the scene can break the limits of time and space and interact with different environments even at different stages of the game, making the guest fall into the two-dimensional Escher maze. The part of figuring out what you are supposed to do through hidden links and maneuvering around to do it is so satisfying, a feeling aided by the dissonant, almost haunting music that fades in and out at key moments.

Apart from the interest curves of gameplay, Gorogoa also keeps its high level of interest through its gorgeous and stunning world. Everything in the game is hand-drawn and carefully crafted into one gorgeous and cohesive story. While it's easy to get wrapped up in the excitement of solving puzzles, this isn't a game you'll want to play too fast for fear that you'll miss something magical. Besides that, the story is told entirely in pictures, so even after finishing the game, the narrative can still feel shrouded in mystery which encourages the guest to play once more.

With the interesting gameplay, the beautiful animation and the soundtrack full of ambient soothing sounds, Gorogoa will wholly capture your attention and keep you stay interested for at least a couple of hours.

More analysis based on the MDA framework

Gorogoa also shows six out of eight aesthetics that mentioned in the MDA framework. These aesthetics are:

1. Sensation (Game as sense-pleasure):

The sensation of the game is built by the gorgeous hand-drawn style, excellent animations, soothing sounds, and most importantly, the very interesting and engaging gameplay.

2. Fantasy (Game as make-believe):

In the game, the guest plays the role of hero that goes through his whole life, chasing the mysterious beast Gorogoa. The process of guest’s puzzle solving is also the process of the hero exploring the world, recalling and introspecting. The game world is connected so well with the real world that it is easy for guest to feel what hero feels. The guest will easily get the feeling of stubbornness and fearlessness when he is young, enthusiasm and hope when he grows up, calmness when he is old.

3. Narrative (Game as drama):

The game entirely uses hand-drawn pictures to tell the story, instead of using any word that may cause any interference. This kind of narrative gives the guest a feeling of mysterious which matches and augments the theme of the story. Also, instead of linear narrative structure, the game uses a non-linear narrative structure which allows guests to jump in and out from different time and space.

4. Challenge (Game as obstacle course):

The game grows in difficulty that the solutions of puzzles grow more creative and obtuse as time goes on. Although the interaction stays simple, the game continues to surprise the guest with its inventiveness. The time and the space can both change by your manipulation.

5. Discovery (Game as uncharted territory):

The discovery part of the game is achieved by stacking, combining and exploring image pieces in different ways to find a connection between them in order to advance and unlock the new spaces and progress the hero’s journey. In some cases, the image presents a hole such as a doorway, so that if you move that image as a mask onto another image you create a new space.

6. Expression (Game as self-discovery):

While you play the game, the self-discovery happens inside your mind that it is all about connection. The guest will learn a lesson in the end: Everything in the world has a connection between each other. If you do not find the meaning of something, it means that you have to change your perspective to see it or you need to fight for it.