Gameplay - Fundamentals of Game Design - page 268

challenges. Players can defeat memory challenges by taking notes, so you may want
to impose a limit on the length of time you give them to memorize material they
must recall. To make a memory challenge easier, give them longer to memorize it
and ask that they recall it soon after memorizing it rather than much later.
Memory challenges often form one component of exploration challenges. In
Raven's Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force, for example, the player must remember the
layout of complex tunnels onboard the Borg cube.
DESIGN RULE Make It Clear When
Factual Knowledge Is Required
If your game requires factual knowledge from outside the game world to win, you must
make this clear to the player in advance.
Pattern Recognition Challenges
Pattern recognition challenges test the player's ability to spot visible or audible pat-
terns or patterns of change and behavior. One of the most common instances of a
pattern recognition challenge crops up in action games when a large number of
identical enemies, each of which behaves in a predictable way, confronts the player.
The player can try alternative strategies until he finds one effective against that
enemy, then use that strategy to vanquish any number of enemies that attack using
the same pattern. To make things harder and more interesting, the boss enemy at
the end of a level usually has a different and more complex pattern of behavior
from the smaller enemies that preceded it.
Visual clues often figure in pattern recognition challenges. In the original Doom ,
the player could find secret doorways by searching for areas of wall that looked
slightly different from the norm. Brain Spa , a brain training game, requires the
player to match pairs of similar-looking objects while under time pressure.
To make pattern recognition challenges easier, make the patterns shorter, simpler,
and more obvious. To make them harder, make the patterns longer, more intricate,
and more subtle.
Exploration Challenges
Exploration is often its own reward. Players enjoy moving into new areas and see-
ing new things, but exploration cannot be free of challenge or it becomes merely
sightseeing. Design obstacles that make the players earn their freedom to explore.