What I Want in a Survival Game

A few weeks ago I found myself wishing for a first person survival game. So when I heard about Rust, I decided to give it a try. So far it's not exactly what I was hoping for, but it is definitely fun. It's also early in development, so it's likely to get better with time. In any case, playing it got me thinking about what I want in a 'survival game'. I'm using that term loosely; my ideal survival game would have a lot of elements that aren't strictly about survival. Two of my favorite games that I would group into this category are Minecraft and Dwarf Fortress (again, using the term loosely). Throughout this post I'm going to compare and contrast what I like and dislike from Rust, Minecraft, and Dwarf Fortress. I might also mention few other games that I have less experience with.

More Problems Means More Solutions

The focus of survival games is problem solving. If your player doesn't have problems that need solving, things feel too open ended. You can keep the player engaged with artificial difficulty (like adding more enemies), but this distracts from the problem rather than fixing it. At the moment, Rust is lacking in this regard. Once you get over the initial hurdle of figuring out the basics, gameplay becomes a grind. Minecraft suffers from a similar problem. Surviving in Minecraft is not difficult. Even on the hardest difficulty, you can simply build a farm in a well lit fortress and you're set for life.

In Dwarf Fortress, on the other hand, nearly all of the gameplay is motivated by survival. You build your fort because building is fun, but also to accommodate an ever increasing number of immigrants. Food can be farmed sustainably, but neglecting to check on your food production occasionally can easily lead to shortages. Goblins can (and will) ransack your fort if you don't make a considerable effort to establish defenses. You spend nearly all of your time making sure that your dwarves aren't going die.

Bottom line, a good survival game has gameplay motivated by problems.

Realism and Fantasy

I like games with a degree of realism. And given that real life is full of problems, this meshes naturally with my previous point. That said, I dislike games that are entirely realistic. There are some aspects of real life that just don't translate well to games. Additionally, including fantasy (or sci-fi) elements in your game opens a world of possibilities. However, it's also possible to rely to heavily on fantasy elements. If every problem can be solved with magic (or technology), it hurts gameplay.

Again, Dwarf Fortress leads here with a good balance of both. I feel that both Minecraft and Rust could have more interesting gameplay if they forced the player to deal with more 'real' problems. Rust additionally forgoes any fantasy elements (aside from zombies), which limits it to things one would expect to see in the real world.

Survivable

A survival game should be difficult, yes, but the player should be able to survive so long as they plan ahead and play carefully. Sure, the real world has incurable, fatal diseases, but if you randomly give one to the player's character, they're naturally going to feel cheated. Likewise, they'll feel cheated if everything they've done in the game in washed away in an instant by a randomly generated natural disaster.

That's not to say that you can't have unpredictable and/or catastrophic events in your game. But the player should have some ability to predict and prepare for such things. Maybe you have diseases, but infection is avoidable if safe measures are taken. Maybe you have natural disasters, but only in high risk areas.

Building

This is something that all three of the games I listed have in common. Building is fun. More importantly, it allows for creativity, which is great for problem solving. Rust does this well. Buildings exist to keep you and your belongings safe. You can build a super huge tower if you want, but it makes you a wide open target for raiders. Dwarf Fortress takes this a step farther with all sorts of mechanics for making your fortress functional and defensible. In Minecraft, on the other hand, functionality isn't much of a concern.

Collaberation and Economy

There's something cool about collaboration. Sure, it's fun to build a huge fortress by yourself in Minecraft, but it's even more fun to do it with friends. If resources are not evenly distributed, then you have a basis for trade and economy. Personally, I think this makes multi-player games much more interesting (just look at EVE). If everybody has access to everything, collaborating loses a lot of value, and becomes a mere convenience.

Perspective

Last point. Put simply I want to feel immersed in the world. In other words, I want a first person perspective. Of the three games I mentioned, Dwarf Fortress is my favorite, but I continually wish I could walk around and explore my forts personally. Minecraft lets you do this, but the simplistic style can sometimes take away from the wonder. If nothing else, Rust excels at this. The game is freaking gorgeous. It's pretty satisfying running through the tall grass in a huge field or watching the sun set over the mountains. Every once in a while, you feel truly immersed in the game world.