Spelunky by Derek Yu
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Such a great read!
Spelunky, if you haven’t played it, is a roguelike platformer. Which means it’s kinda like crossing The Legend of Zelda with Super Mario Bros. with D&D.
The gimmick is that the game randomly generates the levels. Which sounds like it totally shouldn’t work, but it totally does. Through some clever coding, each level being made of tiles with certain rules, levels are always generated in such a way that the player can navigate from beginning to end using only movements that are built in to the game. You won’t start in a walled-off room and just be screwed. It’s clever that way.
Now, when playing, the randomness didn’t impress me much. Because I’m not a programmer, and also because I like to use the phrase “That don’t impress me much” whenever I can. Any chance I get to break into a Shania Twain song, I takes. But reading this book helped me understand the decision to make the levels randomly-generated wasn’t just a hook. It was part of a whole philosophy of gameplay constructed by Derek Yu.
If you have any interest in gaming, game design, or the philosophy of fun, this is the book you need to read, the best book that’ll come out on the topics in 2016, I promise you.
If you don’t, I still recommend reading this book. There’s a lot in here about turning a hobby into a career, how important it is to actually finish creative projects, and even some project management stuff from a surprising and really excellent source.
If you haven’t played the game, I recommend that too.
I’ll admit, I kinda hated it at first. It was so hard. And the objectives weren’t clear to me. And it seemed so luck-based. The random generations could mean that you had an easy area to clear, or a very difficult one. That didn’t seem fair to me.
But then I played it with my brother. And that was so much fun. When it was fun to die in the game, when we challenged each other to piss off berserk shopkeepers, when my brother showed me how to unlock some of the game’s secrets, when we tested the boundaries of the game and each other, that’s when I saw the real joy of the game. That’s when I saw that it’s not about luck. It’s about playing often enough that your skill level allows you to navigate through any iteration of the terrain. The mastery is about skill-building, not treasure hunting or finishing levels. It’s a really different idea of mastery, and I have a new appreciation for it after reading this book.
The game is also a really good answer to something that plagues modern games, the easy availability of walkthroughs. A walkthrough is nice when you’re stuck, but it can be a crutch. And not the kind of crutch you use when your leg is hurt. The kind you use to reach across the coffee table and bring a bowl of Funyuns closer to your spot on the couch.
If no two levels look the same, what good would a walkthrough be?
So I’ll admit, I needed a little guidance. I needed an experienced player to show me how things worked. To explain the rules to me a bit. What you can and can’t get away with. And then? It was so fun. It was a blast. It took me back to the days when I played games with my brother all the time.
If you’ve played the game, read the book. Even if you didn’t like the game, I think you’ll like this book. If you haven’t played the game, play a little or watch a little online, and then read the book. It’s a really cool book.
Also, if you can get your hands on the print, do it. Boss Fight puts out some really kickass physical books. Totally worth the extra layout.