It is rare to turn on a game and be playing within seconds of its activation. Even seemingly simple games, such as Wii Sports, place hurdles between the player and action. You must press start, then select what you wish to play, then select the number of players, your skill level, and a brief loading screen that explains how to play the game or even, in Wii Sports’ case, a screen that tells you to turn off the game and take a break. The barrier is even larger in games built on a narrative foundation, where drama and exposition need to be established alongside play. (More often than not, the two are entirely separate. Even games that meld play, tutorial, and exposition in their initial moments, like Bioshock, wrest away much of your agency to allow their inciting incident to take root.) This didn’t used to be the case. Time was, all that stood between the player and the game was two buttons: power and start. It’s easy to forget how this immediacy can elicit a profound visceral and emotional reaction from the player simultaneously.
PixelJAM Games’ Rich Grilloti, Miles Tilmann, and Mark DeNardo are in the business of making games that outwardly look like little more than simplistic retro pandering, but are, in execution, remarkable examples of immersion through immediacy. Their most recent game, Dino Run, has you running from extinction seconds after you pressing start, giving you only a momentary window to process that you must run to the right and avoid everything in your way.
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