Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
To ameliorate this problem, consider mak ing puzzle sequences or challenges that
allow the player a choice of solutions. The consequences of the player's choices can
affect not only the game she is playing but also the story itself. The player who
chooses to blow up the gate blocking her way might accidentally hurt someone in
the process and be chased out of town. The player who needs a specific key might
have to steal it and be chased because she's a thief. Offering alternative solutions
adds to the replayability of the game. Adventure game puzzle design and challenges
are discussed later in this chapter.
In practice, however, replayability isn't much of a problem. Research shows that a
great many players never finish these games at all; even if the game offers 30 or 40
hours of gameplay, many players play for only 15 or 20. This suggests that if they
can't replay a 40-hour game for another 40 hours, it's unlikely to affect their pur-
chasing decision. Provided that the game gives good value for the money the first
time around, it doesn't necessarily need to be replayable.
Game Features
In adventure games, the player's avatar visits an explorable area containing a vari-
ety of puzzles or problems to solve. Solving these problems opens new areas for
exploration or advances the storyline, giving the player new information and
new problems to solve. Exploring the environment and manipulating items in it
are essential elements of an adventure game. Many players also enjoy interacting
with a wide variety of characters. The more different kinds of people your game
contains, the richer it will be—a quality that adventure games share with role-
playing games.
Adventure games typically offer only a few gameplay modes. Unlike sports games,
with all of the associated team-management functions, or war games, with associ-
ated battle-planning modes, adventure games don't need a lot of specialized
screens. Apart from the need to look at a map or the avatar's inventory or to exam-
ine objects closely, the player always sees and interacts with the world in the same
way, and that doesn't change from one end of the game to the other.
Setting and Emotional Tone
In some kinds of games, such as chess and
Quake
, the setting is almost irrelevant.
Serious players ignore the idea that chess is a medieval war game or that
Quake
involves space marines on an alien planet. They concentrate on the bare essentials
of the gameplay: strategy in the former case and blazing action in the latter. If the
setting intrudes, it is only a distraction.
Adventure games reverse this situation. The setting contributes more to the enter-
tainment value of an adventure game than settings in any other genre. Whether
it's grim and depressing, fantastic and outlandish, or funny and cheerful, the
