Creating a Compelling Game
1. Game Engine: Utilizing Existing Hardcore Tech
Where America’s Army meets these demanding criteria first comes with the underlying game engine the developers licensed. The Unreal game engine offers a solid foundation upon which the designers have created an experience with at least baseline comparable graphics and gameplay to similar titles that also make use of this engine. It is a known standard for quality games, and accepted as such by gamers, including hardcore gamers. Just as importantly, as America’s Army has been released iteratively, it has done so using later versions of the Unreal engine (America’s Army 3.2 runs off of Unreal Engine 3, used in such venerated titles as Batman: Arkham Asylum, Mass Effect, and Gears of War).
The only drawback to this for me (and other potential players) was experiencing the game as a more casual player. Developing the game for a hardcore audience with a sophisticated engine can tax a user’s hardware/connectivity. More than once, I had difficulty launching the game, even with a dedicated corporate internet connection (so yes, I was playing the game at work!).
If the target demographic includes hardcore gamers, developing America’s Army using the standard for hardcore game engines—and keeping the game current to that engine—has been essential part of its success.
2. Gameplay: Recreating the Military Experience
Along with an accomplished game engine, the next criterion for developers was in generating compelling gameplay. The emphasis for America’s Army has largely been to simulate the military experience as closely as possible. The opening cut scene is nothing so dramatic as a recruiting class simply making their pledge to the Armed Forces; the game menu also features a lobby resembling a standard military recruiting station.
Players are then sent through an introductory tutorial that teaches the basic mechanics of gameplay through the setting of boot camp. Here, the distinction between America’s Army as a game versus marketing tool imminently becomes clear. In many games, the tutorial is meant to be a fairly quick experience. Most players view them as a necessary chore; for game designers, the goal is likewise to get players into the actual gameplay as quickly (but as knowledgeably) as possible.
In America’s Army, however, the tutorial is not just to provide instruction on playing the game, but also to illustrate the experience of an actual boot camp. Instead of a quick overview to speed through, the tutorial is structured into the identical 9-week program of U.S. Army Basic Training (including its location inFort Jackson,South Carolina). The tutorial even includes activities completely irrelevant to gameplay, but that are necessary (albeit unglamorous) components of a realistic boot camp—such as having one’s head shaved and learning the proper upkeep for barracks.
There was, I initially felt, an extremely high risk to this strategy. Just as hardcore gamers would be turned off by a sub par game engine, I estimated that they would likewise have been turned off by fairly dull, if realistic, initial gameplay experience—at least, as first presented in the tutorial. After all, do gamers choose war games for the realistic depiction of life as a soldier? Or for an exciting, glamorized depiction of life as a soldier?
America’s Army chose to adopt the strategy of an extremely realistic presentation of military life, and once the game proceeds from training to actual missions, the hardcore gamer is satisfied with having endured the glacially slow start—more than satisfied, in fact. A look at the host of awards won by America’s Army through its various iterations include Best Multiplayer Game, Best Game of E3, Surprise Game of the Year—and even Guinness record for most downloaded war game.
Note: As an anecdote of realistic versus glamorized tutorials, the Adam Corolla podcast ran a discussion about the experiences of the host attempting to play through Call of Duty: World at War (a WWII first-person shooter). The game starts with the player in the role of a sailor onboard a ship under attack; the tutorial is meant to guide the player through the basics of gameplay through the immersive experience of getting topside and manning an anti-aircraft gun.
As a non-gamer, Adam had a hard enough time getting a handle of the controls—so much so, that he couldn’t even manage to get topside, but found himself trapped below deck. That was the beginning and end of the game for him. Although more a critique of difficult tutorials (America’s Army simplifies things, asking players to learn the controls by navigating an obstacle course), it also shows that hardcore gamers have come to expect an immersive experience right from a game’s medias res opening. America’s Army, while aimed at a hardcore demographic, nevertheless offers more of a casual tutorial experience—and a thoroughly lengthy one at that.
3. Accomplishments: Comparing Yourself to the Military
America’s Army adherence to a realistic depiction of military life in its training and missions essentially sets it apart from similar (and superior) first-person shooters. The game engine is of known quality, and the gameplay compelling enough for a tactical shooter. The advantage for America’s Army, by creating a realistic military experience, is that the sense of in-game accomplishment is meant to be relatable to actual military service.
As a recruitment tool geared to hardcore gamers, America’s Army seeks to immerse players in military experience, and then allow them compete within that experience. Awards earned through completing missions, for example, are pegged to actual military ranks (e.g., E-1 as a new recruit, up to E-9 as sergeant major). By creating a realistic military experience, with training and advancement corresponding to actual military service, the overall impression the game attempts to convey is that of what gamers (already competitive by nature) would accomplish if actively enlisted.
Furthering connecting the game to the actual military, the in-game menu prominently links to Go Army, the official U.S. Army website. The game website itself links to Real Heroes, which presents actual soldiers writing about their military challenges and accomplishments, with such evocative taglines as “I will never quit,” “I will never leave a fallen comrade behind,” and “I will always place the mission first.” Again, the connection presented is, now that you’ve played the game wouldn’t you like to be challenged and recognized as an actual soldier as well?
And this is the bridge that America’s Army is ultimately attempting to make, in my opinion. The game provides a safe, but realistic version of the military. The goal is to entice players to seek out the actual version, by appealing to their interests and sense of challenge.
4. Giving Away the Game
Finally, this is a briefly mentioned but incredibly effective component of their marketing strategy. America’s Army is simply given away for free, allowing a wider distribution than if it were attempting to compete in the marketplace against superior games.
(Continued in Part 3)
