They've got a term on the Call of Duty: Big Red One team here at Treyarch...a term that's starting to spread...and the term is "cowbell".
It comes from this famous SNL skit. And I love it...because I used to be a huge Blue Oyster Cult fan. I've seen them play live a half dozen times...have all their albums...my AIM logo is their symbol, the upside down question mark with the lines coming out of it - a broken ankh? Who knows. Anyhow, scary big fan.
But I was talking about the Call of Duty team. "This level needs more cowbell," they'll say.
And what do they mean by that?
In a word - explosions. But more than just explosions. They mean seeing your buddy get capped right in front of you. They mean a plane gets shot down overhead and plummets straight at you, trailing smoke. They mean stuff catching fire. They mean the building collapses around you.
I like to think *Half-Life* invented the videogame equivalent of cowbell. But they probably didn't call it that.
The COD team's cowbell is a little more expensive than the musical kind.
So supposing we were to redefine "cowbell" to mean "little changes to your game that make a huge difference?" Examples might include narrowing the field-of-view so you get a closer look at the action - the Ninja Gaiden trick. Or the way God of War narrows the field of view when you do a finishing move. Or atmospheric rendering effects. Or the motion blur when you're going really fast in *Spider-Man 2*. Or changing your squad AI so that your teammates are usually in front of you instead of following you - Brett Douville claims that made a huge difference to *Republic Commando* with very little coding.
What sorts of cowbell have you guys put in your games?
I put in an extra ten layers of menus each time my game seems like it is getting a little, you know, too basic. Ugh, I hate simple things.
Posted by: Derek Smart | July 28, 2005 at 08:46 PM
Background noise is the thing that's made the biggest differences for me lately. You can communicate so much about your game world to the player with little touches -- like distant screams and sirens -- that take about 10 seconds to add and don't cost much either.
I guess environment particles and effects kinda go hand in hand with this. Billowing smoke in the distance, sparks coming off of a broken sign, or a well-placed billboard advertising a location visited later in the game all add to the ambiance, and help convince the player that he’s in this virtual location.
Of course, none of this does anything to help gameplay. But it’s what I’ve been doing for the last 12 hours so it’s on my mind.
The other thing I’ve been doing is every time the player gets any kind of sniper or big blowing-shit-up weapon I bring in lots of fodder AIs for him to kill. The most gratuitous (but fun) case of this I’ve seen was in Brothers in Arms, where you use a embedded machine gun for the first time, and several Germans instantly attempt to run across your field of view. Classic!
Posted by: Tony | July 28, 2005 at 10:06 PM
Eh, in every FPS ever, whenever you get on a mounted gun, ten thousand idiots pop up and run directly into your line of fire. If it is a good game they run from a couple different directions. If it is a really good game one of your AI team-mates will hog the mounted machine gun and the gameplay will suck so bad he won't get off it :(
Halo 2 was so god damn annoying with the AI teammates, especially in Co-Op. Trying to drive that vehicle? You'll have to kill the driver because he REALLY WANTS TO DRIVE AROUND IN CIRCLES VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.
It is like the ninjas never attacking all at once rule.
Not that this isn't fun sometimes, it is just done to death. I didn't get very far through Band of Brothers in Arms 1943: The War's Middle not because it wasn't a good evolutionary step for World War 2 FPSen; but because it is hard to care about WW2 FPSen anymore.
Posted by: zachary j. gamedesigner | July 28, 2005 at 11:42 PM
From what I've seen, people call the cowbells in Half-Life narrative.
Posted by: Josh | July 29, 2005 at 06:30 AM
Josh: Not necessarily. Near the beginning of the game there are two traps, one involving a falling panel and one involving a burst laser routing cable. I'd say these would both count as cowbell and they have nothing to do with the story.
Could cowbell be...extraneous stuff that isn't based off the main gameplay mechanic that "mixes up" the game and keeps it interesting? Under that definition, cutscenes would, in fact, be cowbell.
Posted by: Viridian | July 29, 2005 at 08:43 AM
If that's the case, more cowbell cutscenes? ;o)
Posted by: Obi Busta Nobi | July 29, 2005 at 09:01 AM
Valve likes to call their cowbell 'experiential density'. http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19991210/birdwell_01.htm
Also, my understanding was that "needs more cowbell" is a way of saying "it's lacking, but I'm not sure what it's lacking". That said, I've not seen the original skit, and only it's online usage, so maybe I'm wrong.
Great post though, I love the little aspects of game design that work sub-consciously like zooming camera tricks.
Posted by: SpiderMonkey | July 30, 2005 at 08:39 PM
wired story on the cowbell phrase:
http://wired-vig.wired.com/wired/archive/13.08/start.html?pg=10
It's overexposed already, so everyone can stop saying it...
Posted by: patternjuggler | July 31, 2005 at 08:14 PM