Achievements – An Anatomy Of Visual Novels
Entry posted by Pallas_Raven in Analysis
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This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here.
The Completionist Drive
It is human nature to want to be rewarded for our accomplishments hence why people are so happy to get a bit of paper at the end of a university course. Games love to tap into this emotional response through Achievements and visual novels are no exception. Achievements are generally used as both a system of rewarding the player and a means of encouraging them to engage with the full range of what the game has to offer. This is especially important for visual novels where the space the player has to express themselves is limited so providing an incentive to ensure they get to experience everything helps create a well rounded title. How exactly do visual novels use Achievements to facilitate this aim? Let’s tick off a check list and find out.
Sense Of Accomplishment
Merely progressing through a game alone may not have the needed sense of forward momentum as we can lose sight of how far we have come which is even more of an issue the longer the game goes on. Hence why many visual novels makes use of chapter or route based Achievements that trigger on certain key milestones. This allows the player to have a proper sense of where they are in the narrative as well as providing a pat on the back for the effort they made to reach this point. In doing so the game creates a positive feedback loop where the player is drip fed these Achievements and feels incentivised to continue rather than losing steam. Using Achievements in this manner is standard practice for video games in general but for visual novels it holds a greater weight than in other mediums. This is due to how extremely structured and inflexible many of them are at their core even with all their branching paths. As such these milestone Achievements act as one of the only means of allowing the player to look back on their journey through the narrative and see the path they took to get there, which is important as a means of forming a strong impression in their memory and leaving the game feeling satisfied.
Almost any visual novel could be taken as an example so let’s pick one out of the hat. The Great Ace Attorney is entirely linear in its structure with clearly defined cases which must be completed in succession. The repetition inherent in the investigation and court sections can lead to a sense of going in circles. To counteract this The Great Ace Attorney has Achievements at the end of each case to inform the player that they have progressed in a tangible and easy to comprehend way. The slightly disconnected nature of the Achievements prevents them from drawing too much attention away from the ongoing events being presented which is reinforced by the Achievements brief appearance on screen. They exist here to acknowledge what the player has done in an obvious and nonintrusive way that can be quickly pushed aside but still referenced later on.
Encouraging Interaction
Not all Achievements are given out in a linear fashion just for progressing through the game, many of them ask the players to perform actions outside of normal play patterns. These can be anything making specific choices to finding hidden secrets by poking the game in ways the player may not have initial thought of. All Achievements of this type are an intentional effort on the part of the developers to direct their audience towards the title in its entirety and try and prevent them from becoming blinkered as they follow the central path. By showcasing the possibilities the game can offer they can encourage players to act beyond what is required of them even when there is no immediate Achievement attached since a precedent has been set for interesting content to be stowed away in these corners. Steins Gate’s phone is an excellent example of this as there are multiple Achievements associated with it as well as it being the primary mechanism for choices. Beyond the immediate utility it provides is also contains small interactions through texts as well as various customisation options. However, these are easy to ignore when the main narrative is so gripping and they could easily be over looked in favour of moving forwards. So the Achievements fill the gap and draw the player’s attention back to the other features of the phone to ensure they will not be missing any of the game’s content.
Controlling Expectations
Before the player even load up a visual novel for the first time, they are likely to have seen its Achievements even if only in passing since they are often shown on the game’s library page. This leaves an initial impression on the player as to the tone and content of the title. There are three parts which inform the player’s view of Achievements and they are their names, the tasks required to get them and the small pictures associated with them. Together they sell the content of the game in a succinct manner by embodying the themes and atmosphere of the entire experience. Let’s look at VA-11 HALL-A’s Achievements for an example of the effect this can achieve. They present the character focus of the game by having many of their tasks being related to specific characters and the characters featuring prominently on the artwork. The extensive use of humours in Achievement names indicates the tone of the game to the player without a second of playtime. Mentioning elements which are obviously not standard visual novel gameplay helps the player understand what kind of game they are in for. Achievements’ purpose from this angle is to help set the player’s expectations for the contents of the game without them having engaged with it at all.
This can work as a means of establishing the genre and narrative density of a visual novel. Take AI: The Somnium Files which has a lot of hidden achievements when the title is first started and since the player can see this they are aware that something is being hidden from them. Through this the player comes to expect a mystery with twists and turns which could have been spoiled by the Achievements. The large number of them suggests a dense game which will demand the player’s time and concentration. Setting these expectations early on makes sure the player can acclimatise to title quickly while helping them understand what the future hold without spelling it out for them explicitly.
Conclusion
Although the phrase ‘a sense of pride and accomplishment’ has taken on somewhat negative connotations for many people who play games, there is no denying how much power it has over a player when done correctly. Achievements offer a most flexible means of utilising this strength and they can provide the needed motivation for the player to keep progressing through the visual novel. The way each Achievement is put together also has a profound effect on its perception and by extension the game as a whole which can be played with to properly align expectations. On top of these benefits it can shape how someone engages with the game by pointing out what is possible within the systems of the game in order to ensure nothing is missed. Overall it is clear why visual novels make use of both external and internal Achievements and they should definitely be considered when planning your own title.
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