Working your way through that massive pile of shame can be a daunting task when the games are way behind the times. So I developed a plan to help me do so; recruit fellow Bitmobbers to play along with me. Not only for encouragement and motivation, but with the hope of a good discussion afterwords.

Well, with Game Club each contributor turns in their submission on their own time. Turns out that is very helpful, because organizing around four people's schedules can be quite difficult. But Matt Giguere came to the rescue and we had -- what I think -- is a worthwhile discussion on the challenges of designing a timeless game, or "classic".

Read the bottom of the post for details on a possible future attempt at the original idea, to be called Backlog Brigade... or, something else. And if a couple people want to get together to talk about Eternal Darkness in a more specific manner, I'm still open to doing so. But anyway, the conversation with Matt. And yes, I am well aware it is very similar to Evan Killham's Splitscreen series. Sorry. Didn't intend it to be.

Matt: When you say impenetrable, do you mean how time has treated it compared to current games in the genre?

Alex: I mean how the magic system felt like it was barely explained at all, and perhaps it was assumed people knew about the circle of power because of marketing for the game, or even because they were able to talk it over with their friends.

Matt: Haha, I get what you're saying. The magic system is sort of a strange way to cast spells, it never felt like it was fully explained to the player. The first time I played it I remember it being mostly trial and error but it doesn't seem impossible.

Alex: Yeah, looking back it seems obvious, but it was extremely obtuse and poorly explained when I played. I didn't even really know that I had to go to the menu and put the runes together to make the spells. Or that I could make stronger spells with the 5 point circle of power, except for Daniel Feit explaining it to me on Twitter. I feel like if you had read stuff up to the launch of the game, or reviews after release, or even just had friends to talk it over with, you would have figured that out sooner.

Matt: Indeed. It sort of also goes the same for the combat. They never explain you can dismember enemies until the end of the very first level. I feel like Silicon Knights wanted the player to take their time but it seems a rather sloppy way of doing things. Then again it doesn't linger on such issues and I see them as small little nitpicks.

Alex: If Chris were here, he would probably pipe in that he didn't know you could run until the last chapter. I think that wasn't a problem for me because I don't own a PS3 or 360, so a big amount of my gaming is still done on PS2. Things like holding down a shoulder button to run are still instinctive for me, and I can hardly fault Eternal Darkness for not having properly explained that. But the magic system is pretty gigantic, and the melee combat as well. Those are game breakers.

When I got to the amazon girl, I died a ridiculous amount of times when I was stuck with the blowgun. The game did explain the targeting system, I remember that, but it was at the beginning of the game, and the blowgun was the first ranged weapon you got, I believe. It was at least the first you were forced to use because of your broken sword. I feel like a simple, hold the button, push up to target head, left for arm, etc. etc., would have gone miles in helping me out there.

Matt: I do remember that the very first scene in the game puts you in a room with the simple zombies and only a shotgun, but in its context (that it's Alex's nightmare) it is suppose to be confusing. The fixed camera angles also don't help in trying to target enemies. Then again this game is suppose to be at a slow pace and I can see why the developers chose to do it that way. It really wasn't to hard to pick up and move around since I have had experience with the early Resident Evil games.

Alex: Yeah, I haven't played many survival horror games, other then Resident Evil 4, so that might have helped me be less frustrated. Really, I rolled with the punches until about Chapter 9. At that point, I just wanted the damn game to be over already. That seems like another way that game is trapped in the past. Nowadays people are alright with a 6 or 7 hour game. The real question is, are these things examples of poor game design, or just part of the game being old?

Matt: I see it as part of it being old and taking influence from others of its genre. This was during a time before RE4. On the other hand I see some of it was designed by choice. If the game were to play out more like a third person shooter I think some aspects of the game would be different and in some parts it would be an entirely different game. Having to be limited by the camera and controls is a sort of archaic concept today.

Alex: Very true, some of these concepts have been phased out by developers today. Still, I also think some of it could have been a result of the game jumping around in the development process for so long. They lost multiple publishers and even switched platforms. I think at some point it may have just become widely accepted how the magic system worked, and they lost sight of whether or not that came across to the player. But that seems like something unique to this game.

Matt: At least the sanity system was a unique and fresh idea.

Alex: Yeah. I think that system really showed an aspect of game design that is immune to the destructive power of time. Everything else in the game will look horrible as time progresses, but they really nailed something when they came up with that. I was usually playing the game at around 8am, in the living room, with my mother-in-law on the computer, and there were a couple occasions that I was still tricked and creeped out.
I didn't know many specific examples of the sanity effects, but I still knew all about them from the years of people talking about it. Sure, if I was tricked it was only for a split second, but that's still impressive. Do you think there are still ways that developers can be timeless with their game design? Is that necessary to ensure a classic game?

Matt: That's a good question. In some ways I think it has more to do with originality when it comes to games. It's hard to look at something today and say, "That game right there, it's a modern classic." Some games can rise to that level and we may say game X is a classic, but really there is no way of knowing right away.
In the case of ED, the sanity meter is something very unique and has been duplicated in other games, so maybe imitation is a mark of knowing what to consider timeless or not. Is it necessary? I don't really think so in order to be considered a classic. Mario 64 wasn't the first 3D platformer, but it is regarded as a classic because it lead the way for others like it.

Alex: Maybe Mario 64 is timeless because it pretty much perfected the 3D platformer. Even Resident Evil 4 is a "classic" just for making huge strides for the survival horror genre.

Matt: Exactly. Same with RE 4, I remember CliffyB once saying that RE 4 and its design inspired him in making Gears of War, so game design is sort of an evolving landscape. Sort of like different leaves on the same tree, the leaves may take a different shape but they all grow from the same source. Back to ED for a second though, I did find the sanity system very effective. Even when I went back to the game years later I still got confused and shocked when my character spontaneously combusted after healing.

Alex: That one got me as well. It actually happened the very first time I used the healing spell, so I thought that the amazon chick just couldn't heal or something and I got through that whole chapter without using it again.

So, I guess we've come to the conclusion that there are ways to make your game timeless, but nobody could ever predict what they are. And the best developers can do is try to either perfect the genre, make substantial progress in furthering it, or find a truely unique new mechanic to implement.

Matt: It is a really complicated issue but interesting to debate.

Alex: Nah. Seems a fairly obvious conclusion to a topic I'm not entirely sure we intended to discuss in the first place. Felt like a good discussion though.

Now, if anyone else is interested in getting support from their peers as they work their way through that massive Backlog, then let's brainstorm it out here. I've got many games I'd like to finally play through. Mad World, Killer 7, Odin Sphere, Final Fantasy 12, Mark of Kri, and probably more.

If anyone else has these games to get through, feel free to help me pick. And I'm open to suggestions on how things will play out. Whether we'll all get together in one massive discussion after the game is over, collect minor conversations amongst participating players throughout and organize them, or some other idea.

I kind of like the idea of amassing lots of twitter, email, or IM discussions between the many people playing the game and organizing it into a post. Let me know what you all think.

You can find more of my writing on music, movies, and more -- as well as those of other contributors like Bitmob's own Chris "Cosmo" Ross, Chris Whitehead, and Ultan O'Connel -- at Cerebral Pop.