Bar graphs, line charts, and pie charts come alive in the infographic-inspired world of Metrico.
Most designers and marketers know that the main idea behind infographics is to simply make complex, and somewhat dull, topics highly interesting, entertaining, and easy to understand. But what if you could explore a video game world built around infographics? Enter Metrico, a new game from Dutch-based game studio Digital Dreams for the PS Vita console wherein a player journeys through a land of bar graphs, pie charts, and other types of graphs.
According to Digital Dreams’ lead designer, Geert ‘Gene’ Nellen, the game was inspired by his love of infographics. Nellen believes that if games, such as Mario, are stripped down to their very core, they’re basically numbers. While the game may look like a conventional platformer, Metrico begs to differ because it’s way beyond that.
What makes this game different—other than the fact that you’ll be running around in a world of graphs—is that the game takes notice of the player’s every action and reshapes the game’s landscape based on the player’s decisions. This makes players think and consider their every move since their movements will definitely affect gameplay.
Just like designing a smart and engaging infographic, Metrico’s mechanics highly encourage players to experiment in order to find the right combination of actions in order to get past an obstacle. For example, a simple jump can cause a bar graph to appear at the bottom of the screen. As you move in closer, however, you’ll find that the graph would slowly elevate — making the platform a little too high to jump on to. This mechanic ultimately makes the player conscious of their movements which tests their problem solving skills on a whole new level.
Like many designers who create data visualizations, Nellen believes that by making data interesting, people would see data as something beautiful and not just a wall of numbers.
Visit Metrico to learn more about the game.