The Backlog: Gorogoa

I chose Gorogoa from my gaming backlog this time because I haven't really been into a lot of puzzle games besides Tetris, Pokemon Puzzle League, and a few others (Dr. Robotniks Mean Bean machine anyone?) I wanted to force myself to play something different.

Gorogoa's core idea is basically, what if puzzle pieces could be zoomed in, and out, and connected to solve a puzzle? The pieces themselves aren't shaped like conventional puzzle pieces with different curves and edges, but rather are four square sections that connect into one big square. The location of the piece, and what you are zoomed into or out on, interacts with other squares of artwork. Sometimes they connect, making two locations exist into one another, while other times they are merely to be zoomed in on and then separated from their own piece into a kind of cut out of a certain object that needs to be placed over a different square. For example, one puzzle piece might have me zooming in on a star in the sky while another one has a cutout of a lantern or a light bulb. If I put that cut out over the star it makes that light bulb turn on.  These connections make something happen to progress the story, which is basically, a young boy trying to collect various fruits in his basket.

I like that it doesn't start with a lengthy tutorial of what to do or how to do it but rather just by clicking around you discover how you can interact with the different squares and play the game, this is a fun aspect of the game for me. With that, Gorogoa is fun to play when you know what to do, and aren't confused on what to connect next. The fun also comes from any typical puzzle game’s enjoyment, which is when you figure out what goes where, solving a piece of the puzzle. 

My enjoyment of the game stopped when I was stuck on a certain puzzle not for 10, or 20 minutes, but for more than 30. The same strength of the game not giving you a whole lot of clues is nice when you know what to do in under 5 minutes, but when you get stuck somewhere and there are no hints on how to progress, the enjoyment really comes crashing down and you wish you could just stop playing.  The only hint system is, when you click outside of the puzzle area, it will shimmer expanding white circles on the object you can interact within the individual squares, but beyond that, if you're stuck you might need to look up a guide to fully enjoy this game. That was the only thing I can really complain about when it came to hard to enjoy moments. 

I do think this computer program does classify as a game, though, as it feels more like a game genre that already exists; point-and-click adventures. But rather than it being just one giant room where you have to take a character and get them to interact with different objects, the character progresses from four different square panels in a unique gameplay hook.  Jesper Juul said, “a game is a rule-based formal system with a variable and quantifiable outcome”. There are definitely rules in Gorogoa, and the gameplay does obtain an outcome (collecting all the fruit).

It also meets Sid Meier’s definition of a game, when he said games are “a series of meaningful choices”. The game constantly has you making meaningful choices by connecting the puzzle pieces in the right way. The player gets a sense of enjoyment when they complete a puzzle, or progress the story while interacting with the game world. While sliding or zooming in to certain locations and combining puzzle pieces, there is a strong sense of progression. 

Just because an executable program is on Steam doesn't make it a game per say, but Gorogoa is indeed one.