Cooperation

When you talk about cooperative game play, it’s near a sin to not mention Portal 2. So I’ve mentioned it. 

Magicka is awesome. The reason it’s awesome, at least when it comes to playing alongside (not against) others, is its diversity. I believe that diversity is the spice which makes cooperative gameplay so darn tasty. Specifically, diversity in roles. 

When it comes to taking on a challenge together, the bottom line is all about filling roles. That’s what cooperation is all about, essentially. When you put up a fence, one person holds a post, another person hammers. When you score a touchdown, one person throws the ball, the other person catches it. When you defeat a flame breathing dragon, one of you casts ice shards, the other one ensures the shields stay up.

Why do we love cooperation so much? Maybe we’re hard wired to want to work together to achieve goals. Maybe its the thrill of succeeding together. Personally, I’m a big fan of stories. Anytime you play with another person, stories can and will develop. ”I killed you thirty times!” “I got that fireball off right at the last second,” “I capped the flag right before you killed me!”

With cooperative gameplay, that “I” changes into “we” and that’s where the special happens. 

Camaraderie, team spirit, friendship, call it what you will but when you’re working together, it brings you closer together.

So how does Magicka create this sense of togetherness so well? Let’s talk about those roles. 

What Magicka does is allow you to fill non-predefined roles. In other games, you are a healer, a tank, a damage dealer, a gunner, a sniper, etc. In Magicka, you can still fill these roles but you’re not limited to them. In fact, in single player, you NEED to fill all of these roles. The beauty of adding players in Magicka is that you can move that work load onto others. 

And while those roles exist in an intrinsic fashion, they are not defined in the game. So anyone playing is just a little mage, running around, spouting jibberish, and playing however they want. And at the end of the day, allowing that behavior is a designer’s greatest accomplishment.