Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 2.3
Development of the relationship between horizontal and vertical movement in
Super Mario Bros
.
What we as creators want to avoid are orphaned verbs. An orphaned verb has no relationship
to the other verbs, so the other verbs don't reinforce it, it doesn't grow, and the player has
forgotten about it by the time she reaches the one situation that demands it. Imagine a game
where the player finishes each level by using the “open” verb on a door that exits into the next
level. If there's only a single door in each level, this verb is an orphan: it never gets used for any-
thing else and doesn't have the opportunity to develop in
relation to other verbs and varying
situations.
How do we avoid having vestigial verbs? Design the game so that the verbs you've given the
player are sufficient to perform everything you ask of her. Increase their utility by giving them
more interactions. If you play a bunch of videogames, you might be surprised how many ways
there are to open doors.
We're back on Venus. Janet Jumpjet is squinting at a door, an ancient metal bulkhead, in the
darkness of a subterranean mine, Megablaster smoking. How is our hero going to get to the
other side of this door? Is she going to knock politely and wait for someone to let her in? Is she
going to put down her Megablaster and turn the door handle? Or is she going to point her
Megablaster at the door and pull the trigger?
Give the important verbs in the game as much to do as possible, so you won't be forced to fill
the void with a bunch of secondary verbs that never get developed.
Making Verbs Robust
We want our verbs to be as developed as possible. We want them to be well-rounded charac-
ters. That doesn't just mean that they interact with as many other rules of the game as possible,
but also that every interaction the player expects to have a reaction does. Verbs are the rules
the player uses to learn the rest of the game's rules. If she uses a verb some way and is given no
feedback, she doesn't learn anything about the verb or about the rules of the game. We want
robust verbs that communicate with the player, even if just
to say, “No, you can't do that.” That
seemingly negative statement can be just as important as showing the player what she can do.
