The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy_ I Link Therefore I Am - Luke Cuddy [68]
Things and Conditions
The chain of conditions, from the start until the end, is the game. These conditions are not abstract, but concrete: a locked door, a merchant that wants money, a magical sword to be found. Each thing in the game is in fact a condition, a restriction on Link’s movements and, consequently, on the player’s. What kinds of things does Zelda have to deal with? There are objects, characters and items.
Objects are those things used for drawing the scenery: trees, rocks, bridges, stairs. But there are objects that block Link’s movements (trees, rocks, locked doors, or rivers), and there are objects that allow them (bridges, stairs, opened doors, and caves). Combined properly, objects on the screen draw a path and lead our movement.
Characters move in a concrete way: an octorok moves every direction but diagonally; a leever comes out of the ground and moves around a bit, then goes back under it for a few seconds; a keese flies around like a bat, slowly and diagonally. Enemies make the area they inhabit dangerous to Link. And friendly characters, likewise, make the space they inhabit safe and secure.
Items are things that Link can carry (keys, rupees, hearts) or get from a friendly character (bombs, potions, bows, swords). And, of course, they can be used. Items don’t determine Link’s movements as objects or characters do, but they also construct the space of Hyrule by improving Link’s abilities.
Objects
Without rocks, trees, or locked doors Link could move freely around the screen with no restrictions; he could go everywhere. Unfortunately, this everywhere is nowhere. The space would be empty, and if we could move in any direction, there wouldn’t be any reason to move in a concrete direction. If we found an empty screen, we would throw down the controller, annoyed. But what if there’s a tree, only one, in the middle of the screen? Some spatial relation will be created. This is the point.
Link can be near the tree or far away from it, on the right side or on the left. If there is a tree row, we have a path. If there are a lot of trees, like a forest, Link will be lost in a maze. Notice that each tree added on the screen is a possibility of movement subtracted for Link. So if we continue filling the screen with trees, we’ll have completely blocked Link: he won’t be able to move anywhere because there won’t be any empty space. Such a thing in a videogame wouldn’t likely be a great success.
Therefore we have, on one hand, the empty space, that allows free movement (and this is boring). On the other hand we have a blocked space in any direction (and this is boring too). The videogame designer has to decide how many objects and enemies to put in the screens, because the way they are distributed gives us different movement possibilities. A screen is a concrete space configuration.
• The tree and the rock are Link-sized, so they block Link’s movements in the same manner and he must go around. Trees and rocks stop the enemies’ shots, but also ours. Sometimes, a secret passage is hidden under them, and we need to burn the tree or to bomb the rock. If the function is the same in both cases (blocking Link’s way), why didn’t the designer use only trees or only rocks? What is the reason for distinguishing them by coding different sprites? A game programmer doesn’t like to waste any effort, if he or she can. Well, Hyrule is so wide that there are forest areas, mountain areas and even ocean areas. But what makes a tree different from a rock isn’t only the way they look, but also (and that’s the point in a videogame) their functionalities, the actions we can do concerning those objects. A tree and a rock are more than atrezzo and are different