Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Making Introductions
One of the most important responsibilities of a scene is not just to develop a rule but to intro-
duce it. The introduction of any new rule is critical. This is the player's first encounter with that
rule or object, and what the player takes away from this encounter will inform every future
encounter. It'll dictate her expectations every time she sees that object. What we as creators
want to be sure of is that she understands the rule and its implications as completely as pos-
sible. If we want the player to be totally intimidated by a scene starring a dangerous object later
in the game, we'd better make sure she leaves her first encounter with that object convinced of
its danger.
We also want to teach the player this as efficiently as possible. The player's most important
resource is time. The player can discover an object is dangerous by having it hurt her, but if
that means the player is forced to repeat the last five minutes of the game, we've just wasted
five minutes of the player's time. (We'll talk more about repetition and punishment in Chapter
6, “Resistance.”) In the space mining game discussed at the end of the previous chapter, one
successful enemy attack means that the expendable mining slave has been killed, and the next
expendable slave is sent in her place. In other words, the player has to try the scene again from
the start. This being the case, we want to avoid teaching the player by death.
You might recall some of the creatures we designed for the space mining game in the previous
chapter: a monster that falls when the ground supporting it has been destroyed, and a robot
turret that shoots bullets at the player when she's nearby. There were various other interactions
we built using these creatures; the turret's bullets could destroy the earth beneath a rock mon-
ster, causing it to fall. But the player can't anticipate these interactions if she doesn't understand
the implications of these objects in the first place. When designing a possible first scene for our
game, how do we introduce these objects and what they mean?
For starters, we have to introduce the player's primary verb: the “bomb.” Specifically, what we
need the player to know about it is the duration of its fuse and the radius of its explosion: the
specific characteristics of the verb that will guide all the player's choices about when and where
to place a bomb. The solution for that—at least, for now—could be a round room with thick
walls and just enough room for the player to stand outside the explosion of a bomb placed
next to the walls (see Figure 3.7). There are no other creatures or items in this room. It exists just
for the player to try a bomb and to get a sense of how far away and how long she has to stand
to avoid being caught in the explosion.
It's important that the player develops a sense of how objects work, because the introduction
of a falling rock creature hinges on this knowledge (see Figure 3.8). It's important that the player
sets off this first falling rock guy with her own primary verb: her bomb. That's because the
player needs to be conscious that she has the choice to release these creatures by herself (and
