[yojo]

I played through Papers, Please back when it came out on desktop, and at the time I remember wondering: "why is this fun?" I enjoyed it tremendously, but on the surface that didn't make any sense. Who wants to play an immigration officer sim? Getting this peek behind the curtain helped me understand all the little decisions that add up to an unexpectedly fun experience.

The level of thought given to tiny UI interactions here is wonderful. Details like being able to swipe around to "play" with the dangling pull chain. Any other dev would just make it a static image and call it a day. But these little bits of magic working together transform one of the most boring possible topics into a real gem of a game. This post should be required reading for interaction designers.

[chii]

> I remember wondering: "why is this fun?"

Other than the tactility of the UI (which is a major part of the game), the reason, i believe, it is fun is because the game's mechanics matches that of the actual role you play in the story. Many games don't really get this correct (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludonarrative_dissonance).

In papers please, your decisions aren't clear cut, like in a regular RPG game, where you can "choose" to be a good guy or a bad guy by selecting one of two options, and one is clearly meant to be the good choice with the good ending, and the other bad. Papers please actually make you think like someone surviving a authoritarian regime, and your actions reflect that role too (you would, for example, choose not to feed, if family isn't absolutely hungry, or that you would attempt to deny entry as fast as possible, since a denied entry doesn't make you any money - no room for sympathies).

It makes the game feel "real".

[marvin]

The "RPG" element of "obviously good, obviously evil" decision always felt contrived to me. Most people would never choose to be evil. Evil grows out of processes much more complicated and human than that.

This seemed obvious to me even when I was 14, but maybe our culture has been stuck in a place where people's understanding of good and evil does not match reality. Propaganda during WWII (or any was, really) would be an obvious culprit.

[mr_toad]

And the so-called good players have body counts that would make Ted Bundy blush.

[seba_dos1]

> Any other dev would just make it a static image and call it a day.

You think so? Games are often full of little things like that. That's a good thing to point out, but it certainly doesn't seem as unusual as you paint it. Letting the user be playful is generally what games are good at ;)

[yojo]

I agree that good games give you things to play with, but this is literally the toggle to slide out a UI element, and only exists because a phone screen was too small for the original design to fit. If it had been a little triangle that you tapped, no one would have said anything. Instead it’s got realistic chain physics and jingles around as you move the card.

I’m trying to think of another instance of “sliding out a control” being given this level of attention, and I’m drawing a blank. It feels like an unusually high level of effort to put into a UI concession for a port that was going to sell well anyway.

Granted, this game is mostly about sliding UI elements around, so maybe it is more integral to the experience than in other games.

[seba_dos1]

There is barely any external UI in this game (at least when you're actually playing), most of what you see is in universum. Had the game chosen a different art style, those could be 3D models that you would interact with in 3D space. You can easily imagine putting a VR headset on and having all these documents, stamps and pullchains around you, so it's only natural for them to behave in a realistic way - just like, say, SUPERHOT VR is started by pushing a floppy into the drive, when it could be just a simple button.