Wednesday 10 September 2008

Doh!!!

Anyway, sorry to say, this week there wont be any more entries. will resume next week friday.

Will announce Media release date.

Wednesday 3 September 2008

Player Choice and Mechanic Slack

Player choice and Game Mechanic Slack

Intro

Last time you played a game did you play it for your fun or the developer’s fun? You obviously played it for your own. The game is for the gamer, not the designer or programmer. So the player should be free to:

· Use his preferred weapon(s) as opposed to feeling he cannot snipe or take full on (or anywhere in-between)

· Choose to sneak or to assault

In Rainbow Six: Vegas, attempting to sneak up on the enemy will sometimes be stopped when the main character (beyond player decision) decides to whistle and this attracts unwanted attention (its still a awesome game).

The other path

Nope, this section is not about multiple pathways (although multiple pathways should be allowed in any good game (not that it would make a game bad if it were without multiple paths (See Half Life 2)). This section is about giving players slack to players to do whatever they wish, and encouraging behaviors (rather than forcing).

For instance, if a game were based around zombie killing, you could have hiding or killing, both beneficial, as one may carry awards for hiding while the other will give awards for killing. But in order to further encourage, you may give players rewards in order to encourage them to do it further than the award.(Just told you what I’m making with the Escape Engine first).

Another game idea I had once encouraged the player by introducing a character which would kill for better weapons (even if it were unnecessary) , perhaps encouraging players to do the same. Do note this may be a bad idea as the player may have needed to save the characters ass.

Another way (back to rewards) would be to allow players to choose a path from two sets of goals, which would be repeated every level, when the player meets the requirements, he unlocks an item.

Game Mechanic Slack

And now for the other topic. Commonly an issue with jumping gaps, that the player must be at very edge when starting to jump.