Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
An ideal variant of the text label for the button is menu/pause, but it occupies too
much space; hence, only Pause can be used. The words can be replaced with
graphic symbols, which is very handy. For instance, an arrow pointed to the left can
markthe menu button. But now it isverypopular (most of the modern game titles use
this approach) to implement a pause symbol (two parallel bars). Because the symbol
has been taken from media controls, some other icons from there can be used as
well. For example, the Play symbol can mean start (or continue) a game session,
the Skip level can switch to the next level skipping the current one, and so forth.
Autosaving
A modern game of any genre must autosave the game progress. That is an indisput-
able rule! The player can pause or unload the game, but it should save the current
game setup. In an ideal case, positions and states of each element can be recor-
ded to a saved file. The iCloud functionality is always good practice, but the system
should be reliable enough; there should be locally saved files as well to work in situ-
ations when the cloud-based storage is unavailable. Action games can utilize check-
points to save the player's progress. In this case, they play the role of an element
which motivates the player to move forward. Try not to spare too many checkpoints,
it is good to use as many as you could in any level, especially before you get to a
tricky scene. A good way to change the game's difficulty level is to vary the number
of checkpoints. Never, I say never, place the checkpoints just before a cut scene!
Players hate situations when a hard game scene—a fight with a boss—is preceded
by an animated sequence, portion of text, or some other narrative element. They
hate them even if a skip function exists. The only artistic excuse is the attempt to
induce a specific player's emotion, for instance, make him/her angry, so he begins to
hate the enemies immensely (and the author of the game as well).
Remember that there is an experience issue that a standard autosave feature is in-
capable of resolving. While playing some game with a very picturesque game design
(especially those with a strong adventure component), users may need the oppor-
tunity to save their progress in a specific location. For example, users might want
to share their experience with somebody else, showing a particular game scene or
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