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In this series we're look at how games are designed to teach the player how to play.
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons tutors the player alongside the context of the story and constantly
tests the players understanding of the mechanics through great level design.
There's quite a unique control scheme in a tale of two sons, each analog stick is designated
to the movement of one of the two brothers. Although the controls are fairly simple it's
interesting to see how the level design is used to introduce this concept.
The player begins by controlling the kart the sick father has been placed in. This was
a clever way to introduce the control scheme because it's similar to when a child learns
to ride a bike with stabilizers. The restricted movement of having to hold the kart makes
it easier to co-ordinate the analog sticks and focus on making small adjustments. It
becomes obvious that the kart will go faster when both brothers are moving in the same
direction so the player strives to achieve that as they make their way down the winding
road.
Once the kart reaches the platform, note where the lever has been positioned in relation
to the two brothers. The game started with the little brother at the front of the kart
and once on the platform the player can see it's quicker to use the little brother to
pull the lever. Although not all players will decide to pick the little brother first a
good majority will find out that there's a difference at this point between the two brothers
and that's strength.
The game uses this teaching method throughout to allow the player to discover for themselves
the differences, similarities and dependency the two brothers have on each other.
Text is used sparingly to show the player how to interact with the environment and manipulate
the isometric camera. When text commands are displayed the game is paused until the player
presses the button indicated. Once the player responds the game effortlessly transitions
back to the game play and carries out the command for the player to see. Texted prompts
used like this cause little disruption to the pace of the game play and puts the player
on the spot to understand and carry out an instruction so they will be able to remember
how to use that action for the rest of the game.
Visuals centre around giving hints for the player to interpret for themselves. For instance
the use of a panning camera is a simple way to show an area of interest. Even though the
game is linear this sparks the players curiosity to explore and find out a way to that location.
Another example are the Animations of the characters that give clear feedback of what
can and can't be achieved. There's a broad range of character animations and a lot of
them are situational depending on what the brothers are interacting with. This works
well to show the different personalities and abilities of the two brothers and builds up
a picture of how each brother may react to future scenarios.
Voice acting combines well with the animations of the characters. Even though there's no
distinct language, the sounds clearly emote what a character feels or thinks about a situation
which gives the player enough feedback to know how to proceed.
Brother's a tale of two sons manages to teach the player in such a way that the player feels
they are discovering the answers for themselves. Although the puzzles are fairly simple, they're
diverse enough that the player is constantly being challenged on their understanding of
the control scheme and the traits of the two brothers. By the end of the first chapter,
the game has taught the player everything they need for the journey ahead and conditioned
them to use their own initiative to solve a problem rather than relying on the game
for help.