Video games are amazing. They are such special pieces of media that not only invite you to look at a world that may be like our own or completely unlike it, but invite you to be a part of it. Isn’t that special?
Recently, I played through God of War (2018) for the first time. I played its 2022 sequel before doing so, because there’s something a little wrong with me. When playing the sequel, there was no photo mode yet so when I decided to do wilderness photography, it was in the form of in-game screenshots at just the right angles. It was the right way to play.
When the photo mode did eventually arrive for God of War: Ragnarok, I was done with it. I had finished the game, so I had no plans to go back. However, I hadn’t played the first game, and that game has a photo mode right now! Therefore, I returned to wilderness photography in the world of God of War.
But alas, I didn’t find myself going too wild in the wild. I didn’t actually find as many creatures in the first game as I did in the second, but… I did find this frog. I found many frogs. Every time I saw a frog on the screen, I jumped to photo mode and I zoomed the fuck in. Every frog was a blessing.
Isn’t that beautiful? No, it’s not a perfect frog. This isn’t exactly what a frog looks like, and it’s even a little low-poly in some areas. But I think that’s why I like it so much. It wasn’t the main priority in 2018’s God of War, a game that was obsessed over at the time for how it looks, but it was a priority to somebody in Santa Monica Studio.
Somebody had to make these frogs. Somebody, or maybe even a few somebodies, took the time to make this frog look as froggy as they could. Not just that, but they also took the time to put these frogs all around the world, hopping around in a way that makes you think they’re on their very own little journey.
I think that this frog is so special because it’s a small part of a bombastically huge game that wasn’t the focus, but it took my attention for just a moment. There are moments like this in so many other games that fuel my love for the craft of game development and see it for the incredible craft that it is.
I look to Unpacking, a BAFTA-winning game from Australia’s very own Witch Beam. I think about the in-depth and tireless foley work done to make sure that every moveable item in that game made a different sound when being placed on a different type of surface. 14,000 different sounds. Isn’t that amazing?
Excuse me what pic.twitter.com/cn6DYE04v1
— Francesco Del Pia (@frandelpia) November 4, 2021
More recently, I look to Bilkins’ Folly, a game made by Luke Webster with some of the smoothest pixel animation I’ve ever seen. Talking to him, I learned that he was inspired by the animation of Cuphead, another incredibly example of tireless work put into a specific part of a larger game. It’s so cool to see how the industry feeds into itself to create new things.
And that’s just scratching the surface of it all. I remember starting this job and fearing that I would grow to hate games if I had far too much exposure to them, like someone hating pizza after working at Dominos for a few years.
That being said, it made me love video games even more as I’ve got the chance to talk to so many people about their specific craft within the games they work on, and read so many stories of creation that I would have never heard of if it weren’t for being here. Making a game is hard, and each role in a team is a puzzle piece necessary to finish what can end up being a beautiful piece of work.
Also, I worked at Domino’s for three years and I still eat that shit. What’s your favourite ‘little thing’ about a video game you love?
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