Week 4: Research (Celeste)

Celeste

Description

Celeste is a platform game released on January 2018 on various platforms, including the Nintendo Switch. The game started off as a game jam project before being fully developed later on. The player plays as a girl named Madeline as set set out to climb Celeste mountain while avoiding obstacle such as spikes that could kill her. There are various collectibles that Madeline can collect, and she can jump and climb on walls as well as air dash. The story of the game also introduces several other characters, one of which is 'Part of Madeline' who is a darker reflection of Madeline herself.

Aesthetics

The game used pixel aesthetics for the most part, which gave it a bit of a retro feeling. There are illustrations used for the character profiles that aren't pixel-style. The color palette revolves around different tones of purple, as well as some bright colors of yellows and greens as well, depending on the scene. This gave a dream-like aesthetic in my opinion, and fits nicely within the semi-fantasy storyline and environment. The sounds and the musics of the game also tie the mood and the art together. As the scene changes, the music accompanying the scene changes to fit the mood. The gave the game an atmopheric factor as well as providing a certain mood in connection to the story. The music also fit with the pixel style of the art as well.

My Thoughts

Seeing how the the quick respawn and recurring deaths didn't deter the players from playing the game as it difficulty ramps up, it could be said that Celeste fits into the line of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's flow theory graph, where the harder the game gets, the more adept the players will be at playing the game. The game seems to have enough challenges that the player have to work for, but also communicate to the players that they can pass the level. This is done with some parts of the scene hinting to the next area, so that the players can tell that there is a way to get through the game and reach the next level. In addition, the player's movements are not complicated, so it is not hard to start playing the game. The game focuses more towards how to use those movements in order to avoid the obstacles and progress through the game.

Moreover, what this game does very well is introducing a theme/topic and conveying a message effectively through the game medium without taking away the entertainment part of the game. The underlying theme of the game is about how Madeline is battling depression, and this theme was present throughout the whole game. The game convey its main message without directly saying what the message is, but rather with the use of character designs and storytelling. This way, the game can kept its quality of being something that is both entertaining and challenging, without explicitly showing the seriousness of the topic that may hve drive away some potential players. This allows the players to both enjoy the game as an entertaining media, but also get something more from it, which in this case is the message about battling depression.