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Good
Gameplay Open-ended. The game should not appear linear. If the player needs to be driven, then give 'em a good storyline. Some motivation. Reward them. Most of the attention seems to be focused on enemy AI, but the behind the scenes design can be just as instrumental. Herding a player towards a particular secret or trap using well-placed turrets or bonuses is a more subtle way of keeping the action flowing. This includes the controls, leave room for the player to become more accomplished with the controls. Quake did this superbly. The simple matter of being able to differentiate a keyboard player from a mouse player is a telling point in it's favour. Accessible. One of the major stumbling blocks for the first-time player is learning the controls. Bungie's Myth camera controls and 'mouse-flick' direction facing put casual gamers off. Looking Glass' Terra Nova movement stopped many gamers after their first try. A basic set of controls should serve the player through the first few levels, introducing more as progress is made. Doom is a perfect example. Anyone can play Doom within a couple of minutes. Sure, they can't circle-strafe, but they can move and shoot. This is where a lesson from beat-em-ups can be taken. You can't combo from the word go, but in a good beat-em-up like Capcom's Street Fighters or Namco's Tekkens, the moves flow into each other, and before you know it, you're unleashing four-hit combos at will! Standardising the controls seems to be beyond developers, and this is particularly irritating on the consoles. The Playstation's triangle button has been used to go back in menu systems since the year dot, but developers seem keen to impress or differentiate their games from the herd. Don't do it with your controls. There's very little point in pissing off the player with daft menu design before the game has even begun. Proposed Control Standards Back - Triangle on PSX & PS2, B on N64 Forward - X on PSX & PS2, A on N64 Make sure that your menus are wrapped, so that a player may get to the last item by pressing up on the first. |