Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
the player to learn by trial and error, which can make the game extremely frustrat-
ing. Many people deeply dislike having to learn by trial and error, and requiring a
player to do so limits the market for that game to those players who are able to tol-
erate the frustration.
DESIGN RULE
Avoid Trial and Error
Provide adequate clues that enable players to deduce the correct resolution to a problem.
Avoid creating challenges that they can surmount only by trial and error. (Challenges that
require physical skill and that may be overcome with practice are an exception.)
Setting the Pace
In conventional games that don't use a timer, either the players or an independent
referee sets the
pace
of the game—the rate at which the events required by the rules
take place. In effect, it is up to the players to make the game go
.
In video games, the
computer sets the pace and makes the game go. Unless specifically waiting for the
player's input, the computer keeps the game moving forward at whatever pace the
designer has set. This allows us to design fast and furious games that constantly
throw enemies or other challenges at the players, or to design slow and deliberative
games in which the players can stop to think for as long as they want. Games can
also modulate the pace, giving players a rest between periods of intense activity.
Presenting a Game World
Because a game world is fictional—a fantasy world—the game designer can include
imaginary people, places, and situations. The players can think of themselves as
make-believe characters in a make-believe place. With conventional games, this
takes place primarily in the player's imagination, although printed boards, cards,
and so on can help.
NOTE
Video games
can present a designer's
fictional game worlds
to the player more
directly than board
games can, just as
films can present a film
director's imaginary
worlds more directly
than topics can. This
principle enables video
games to entertain
players in a wider
variety of ways than
conventional games do.
Video games can go much further. By using a screen and speakers, video games
present a fictional world the players can sense directly. Until recently, the poor
state of computer graphics meant that the players had to use a lot of imagination,
and of course, text-based computer games still intentionally rely on the players'
imaginations. However, it has always been a goal of game developers to present
game worlds that seem as real as the fictional worlds in television or film. Although
we still have a great deal of work to do, this goal is in sight. Modern video games
are full of pictures, animation, movies, music, dialog, sound effects, and so on that
conventional games cannot possibly provide. In fact, video games have become so
photorealistic in recent years that some designers now experiment with a wider
range of visual styles such as Impressionism, traditional Japanese brush painting,
and so on.
