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Replayable This factor is more important than a lot of designers seem to realise. To get the most out of a game the player needs to be good at it. To become accomplished they need to practice, but if all they do is move through the game, with each level designed for a certain basic skill, then it becomes more like an adventure game - rewarding the first time, but increasingly dull with repetition. Myth encourages replay with a combination of factors. The damage ratio is good measure of skill, but rewarding the player for this through the use of veteran units, which carry over into the next level, adds an addictive continuity to the game. Another simple way to achieve this is to bring back a scoring system. There was a time when skill at a game meant a higher score; it wasn't whether you had finished the game but your highest score that mattered. Witness Tony Hawk Skateboarding. It seems
that replayability has moved into the multi-player
arena. The designers and beta-testers, sick to the back
teeth of playing the same single player missions over
and over pay far more attention to the multi-player
side. Witness
Quake. Frankly,
a piss-poor single player game (much worse than Doom)
but a fantastic multi-player experience. Tension
& Atmosphere Both major factors lacking from the majority of games today. This is one area where technology has given designers the opportunity to outstrip the games of yesteryear. Games like Half-Life and Thief, where snatches of overheard conversation, muttering guards or distant radio chatter provide atmosphere and put the player on guard. A powerful enemy can be instrumental in creating atmosphere. The stomping of the Trow and the machinery-clanking Cyber-Demon both create panic in the player and remove the sense of invincibility which plagues first-person shooters in particular. Controls Get together with other developers wherever possible and standardise the damn controls. Yes, I realise that your way is probably better, but frankly - who cares? I'm not likely to play a game 50 times in row to appreciate it the way you have. Witness Tribes. The array of radio commands is admirable, but how the hell am I going to learn all those in the middle of a multi-player (since that's just about all they offer) game? |