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UNLOCKING CONVENIENCE
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Ramshackin
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Ramshackin
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CloseThis is an area of game design that always has me torn.
The idea is a player can unlock, purchase, find, or acquire an upgrade that makes the game more convenient to play.
Some examples include: purchasing more storage space from a banker, finding an item that shows enemy health bars, upgrading your strength stat to increase inventory carrying capacity. I have a few of these in my current project too: an item that permanently increases movement speed, an item that controls whether it's day or night, and one that lets the player teleport from their home to common locations.
On one hand, if the game designer knows these features will make the game easier to play, shouldn't they be available from the start? Isn't it our job as developers to make games that are as convenient to play as possible? Aren't we harming the experience by purposefully locking these types of features?
But on the other hand, unlocking stuff feels awesome, man. These features work great as rewards since we immediately see the value after having been playing the game "the hard way". There's something satisfying about looking back and thinking, "ha, remember when I had to actually care about how many storage tabs I had?"
Where do you stand? Is it okay for a game designer to purposefully make their game less convenient in order to provide satisfying unlocks? Does the concept work better or worse in different situations?
The idea is a player can unlock, purchase, find, or acquire an upgrade that makes the game more convenient to play.
Some examples include: purchasing more storage space from a banker, finding an item that shows enemy health bars, upgrading your strength stat to increase inventory carrying capacity. I have a few of these in my current project too: an item that permanently increases movement speed, an item that controls whether it's day or night, and one that lets the player teleport from their home to common locations.
On one hand, if the game designer knows these features will make the game easier to play, shouldn't they be available from the start? Isn't it our job as developers to make games that are as convenient to play as possible? Aren't we harming the experience by purposefully locking these types of features?
But on the other hand, unlocking stuff feels awesome, man. These features work great as rewards since we immediately see the value after having been playing the game "the hard way". There's something satisfying about looking back and thinking, "ha, remember when I had to actually care about how many storage tabs I had?"
Where do you stand? Is it okay for a game designer to purposefully make their game less convenient in order to provide satisfying unlocks? Does the concept work better or worse in different situations?
I think it's useful to make a distinction between mechanics that make the game less annoying (an extra-ludic benefit to the player) and mechanics that make the game easier (a ludic benefit to the player).
Mechanics of the former type improve the player's play-experience and don't provide a tangible benefit inside the world of the game itself. Mechanics of the latter type in some way reduce the challenge of the game itself.
I don't think it's a good idea to gate quality of life improvements behind progression. The reason they exist is to remove friction between what actions the player wants to express in the game world and the execution of those actions. Since they don't provide a meaningful mechanical benefit to the player, by gating them, you're making the conscious choice to make your game more annoying to play.
For example, in the case of inventory limits, I always get annoyed at games which have an inventory limit, but it's very large (i.e., it takes many hours of looting before you fill it up). Often these games have a way to increase the inventory limit, but none of the gameplay challenges are ever oriented around inventory management, so it feels like an arbitrary time-wasting measure. If your inventory space is limited, then inventory management should be an important aspect of the game's design. If it isn't, then what purpose does limiting the inventory serve? It just makes it annoying to have to make multiple trips to sell things. It's not fun, it's not challenging, it's just boring filler.
Mechanics of the former type improve the player's play-experience and don't provide a tangible benefit inside the world of the game itself. Mechanics of the latter type in some way reduce the challenge of the game itself.
I don't think it's a good idea to gate quality of life improvements behind progression. The reason they exist is to remove friction between what actions the player wants to express in the game world and the execution of those actions. Since they don't provide a meaningful mechanical benefit to the player, by gating them, you're making the conscious choice to make your game more annoying to play.
For example, in the case of inventory limits, I always get annoyed at games which have an inventory limit, but it's very large (i.e., it takes many hours of looting before you fill it up). Often these games have a way to increase the inventory limit, but none of the gameplay challenges are ever oriented around inventory management, so it feels like an arbitrary time-wasting measure. If your inventory space is limited, then inventory management should be an important aspect of the game's design. If it isn't, then what purpose does limiting the inventory serve? It just makes it annoying to have to make multiple trips to sell things. It's not fun, it's not challenging, it's just boring filler.
Corfaisus
"It's frustrating because - as much as Corf is otherwise an irredeemable person - his 2k/3 mapping is on point." ~ psy_wombats
7874
My game used to start with you being able to get the ship and airship after completing the dungeons they're locked away in, and you'd have to choose one or the other to get just to progress with the game. Sure, having unlimited access to the worldmap immediately sounds cool, but the game suffers in other ways because of it.
When you didn't have to earn the progress you've made, nothing feels substantial. You also can't throw in major roadblocks in some towns but not others without it feeling artificial. It really just ruins the experience.
A better option is to have the ability to unlock a fast travel method to places you've already visited. That way you've earned your progress and you don't have to deal with trekking back across the world just to get back to an earlier location. This cuts down on backtracking and is a must.
When you didn't have to earn the progress you've made, nothing feels substantial. You also can't throw in major roadblocks in some towns but not others without it feeling artificial. It really just ruins the experience.
A better option is to have the ability to unlock a fast travel method to places you've already visited. That way you've earned your progress and you don't have to deal with trekking back across the world just to get back to an earlier location. This cuts down on backtracking and is a must.
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