Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 6.7
If you're running low on ammunition in
Half-Life 2
, this crate is likely to contain some to
help you out.
Much more egregious examples abound in games. In many racing games, for example, your
opponents will actually drive faster if you're in the lead and slower if you're trying to catch up to
them. It's not hard to understand how this kind of adjustment keeps the game interesting in the
service of flow, but becoming aware of how strangely fluid the behavior of the competition is
can be jarring. It might even make the player feel like her own abilities and struggles don't really
matter, because the reality of the game world will be adjusted based on the player's situation.
Subtlety is necessary in DDA because of how it changes and manipulates the conversation
between player and game. When the player pushes against the game and doesn't manage to
make a difference or she meets an expected goal, the game pulls back its own resistance; when
the player pushes forward successfully, the game's resistance increases as well. Learning a game
through your own ongoing conversation with it is a process of exploration. Exploring a system
with an intense amount of DDA is like having a conversation with someone who's changing her
mind constantly based on what you're expressing.
Used bluntly, DDA can give the resistance of a game a mushy feeling, as if there's no fixed
structure that the player can meaningfully encounter and push against. Used subtly, DDA may
go unnoticed by players, but it's still quietly manipulating the shape of resistance to create the
