An examination of the "home-base" game system.

I have played a lot of games in my time and have a memory of more game systems and mechanics that could be considered healthy. Looking back I'm noticing a trend of some of my favorite games and how one game system is present. Today I'm going to examine that system and pour out my love for it.

"Home Base" which I'm calling it will be defined for this entry as the following:

A system that subsists with the main game system offering an additional layer of progression

I think my love for this system comes from my background of enjoying city builders. I've played the genre since Sim City 2000 and always loved building my city, getting everything up and running and so on. What the home base system is, in essence is like having a partial city builder in your game.

Let's get into a bit more detail with that. Many titles feature a linear progression, you go from level 1 to level 2, you go from fighting rats to monsters etc. Having a home base mechanic gives you a circular progression. For example I go into the woods and kill monsters and recover materials that I use to improve my town to get better equipment that I use to go further in the woods.

By going out into the woods and fighting I clear up the area and at the same time get materials that I use to improve my city which in turn allows me to go further when I'm out fighting. Both systems are used independently of each other however both systems use the other to progress.

At this point it should become clear that the home base system only exists in multi system games. Games that are pure action or all RPG most often don't have a home base system. There is also one other criteria that needs to be further explained.

Even if the game does have multiple systems, in order for the home base mechanic to exist both systems must improve and subsist off of the other. The best way to give an example of when this doesn't happen would be with one of my favorite games of all time.

Star Control 2 while I love it does not meet the home base criteria even though you have a home base to return to. The reason comes from the interaction between the two, the star-port's functions are to refuel your ship, outfit it and build new ships. While you do use the materials you find in space and combat to afford this you are not making the star-port better. Nothing I do in combat will make my star-port any better; I can't get better crew members or upgrade the port. Instead the relationship is one way, the port makes my combat and exploration better but by doing better in combat and exploration I don't make the port better.

With that said it's time to talk about some recent examples of this type of interaction.

Little King Story (Wii): LKS for the Wii was an interesting blend of the action strategy game mechanics from Pikmin along with light city building. In the game you take your army of conscripted citizens into the wild collecting treasure which can be used to improve your town. By making your town better you'll be able to collect more taxes and get upgrades for your citizens which allow them to fight better when you take them outside. I do wish that there was more to do on the city building aspect as you are just plopping down buildings but it was enough for me to enjoy the game.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (PsP): Currently I'm working on an analysis of this game so I'm just going to highlight its home base mechanic. By capturing soldiers in the field they can be recruited back at Snake's base and put to different tasks, such as going out into the world to do missions, providing recovery for soldiers or researching new gear for Snake. Like LKS the home base mechanic is not completely fleshed out but it does offer more to do then your standard sneaking mission.

Hinterland (PC): I absolutely loved Hinterland, yes it was buggy and designed for a bargain price but it hit almost all the correct buttons for me. One part city builder and one part action RPG I enjoyed Hinterland despite its faults. I really wish that Tilted Mill was still around (the designers) as I would snatch up a Hinterland 2 in a second.

It seems rare these days to see games with home base systems as it does in a sense distract from the main game. There is however one final example of a game that I have to talk about as it is not only the best example of this but it also belongs to what is considered to be one of the greatest PC games of all time.

X-Com UFO Defense is a game that needs no introduction at this point. Released in 1994 the game has built a reputation of greatness that not even later games in the series could upset. There is so much that X-Com got right that for the sake of turning this entry into a book I'm going to leave out and instead focus on the home base.

There are three main systems in X-Com, turned based strategy combat, isometric base building and aerial combat. I'm going to ignore the latter for this entry and focus on the first two. You have complete freedom in running your base along with building it. Depending on how you place your rooms determines the floor plan if your base is attacked. On the management side of things you recruit people and buy basic equipment. You determine what equipment your base produces along with researches for new technologies.

Going into the field you choose what squad members to take along with their equipment. Out in the field you have to choose between incapacitating aliens to bring them back for study and just killing them. Depending on how much damage you do on the field and whether you capture or destroy the ship will determine the materials you bring back. These materials will be used to manufacture more equipment to make the fighting easier.

As you can see both these systems subsist off of each other, without going into the field you won't get the money and materials needed to improve your base and by not making your base better you will lack the tools and manpower to effectively fight the aliens. The integration of all three systems delivered an amazing experience which few games were able to replicate well.

Multi system games done right have always been a favorite of mine and I am a sucker for games that feature a home base game system. The sense that no matter what I'm doing is making progress in the game is a great hook to keep the player motivated to continue. Besides we all need some place to store our war trophies after a huge battle.

Josh.

P.S. Happy early Thanksgiving.