GAME LENGTH

author=Erave link=topic=58.msg959#msg959 date=1182532176
I beleive someone mentioned this earlier, but since we aren't paying for amateur games. That gives us less incentive to stop playing a game mid way. Think of how many Pro Games you'd chug through just because you spent the money (Chrono Cross...)

...three times.

*cough*

author=Gadreel link=topic=58.msg795#msg795 date=1182216211
"<insert text>" <name> murmured to <him/her>self while shuffling through the dark chamber hallway. The only light source resonating from the stairway leading down into somewhere. It blanketed <name>'s face with a dull red haze.

As <name> drew closer to the entrance, dark figures began to shift and dance in the darkness. Playing with <his/her> eyes. Barely visible. All peering. <Name>'s shadow's silhouette began to shift and move and a raw smell of burnt flesh crept into <his/her> nose.

<His/Her> steps echoed and with the echo, a sound accompanied... "<insert text>..." a whisper. "...<insert text>" All around <him/her> the whispers came.

"<insert text>!" <name> screamed. "<insert text>?"

A clicking sound. Behind <him/her>. It began to grow louder until the sound was in sequence with the whispers. <Name> began to laugh menacingly. Flashes of lightning cackled around <him/her>. This was it.

Phantasy Star II did that at the hero's house and the Central Tower (and this was in 1989!). Yes, even "There was a knock at the door" seems to convey more action than Rudo just talking out of the middle of nowhere.

It's not just pure length and story, what tends to be overlooked is the feeling of accomplishment.

Many times a long game can feel so long because you're really just spending the entire game doing one thing. Take Chrono Trigger as an example, you don't even learn about Lavos until probably 1/5 of the way into the game, and even then it's well set as a long term goal that you can almost forget you're working towards when the story rises to the climax of the various "episodes" like fighting Magus or trying to save Schala.

The sense of accomplishment that doesn't depend only on beating the game is something that I feel really defines how good a game is. If you spend the entire game just working towards the eventual conclusion you start to want it to end; how long can you prolong something with just plot twists instead of honest change?

"Oh no! We almost made this person into what they need to be, but they just got kidnapped! We must save them now!"

"Oh no, we almost got the powerful artifact that would defeat the bad guy, but a crazy plot twist stopped us... again!"

Or my personal "favorite":

"Wow! After 8 idential dungeons with varying puzzles and unlocking all 8 of the <insert various artifact here> a plot twist has forced us to: 1) go and beat one more dungeon and the final foe 2) beat even more repetetive dungeons or 3) start our quest practically over again!"


Concentrating on letting the player's accomplishments drive the story instead of the story drive the player's accomplishments is one of the keys to making a game interesting; when you know you've got to invest 60 hours of random plot twists and the "same old story" to beat a game it feels like what it is... a long grind just to see the ending.

However if you can make each sub-story or section of the plot unique and interesting enough, and provide enough of a conclusion to make the player feel like they've accomplished something, you can set them on the next "game within the game" and make them wish it lasted LONGER instead of them just wanted to see "the end already!"

Enjoyable games are usually memorable, and often you can pin-point different story-lines of the game just from memory if it's good, the games that are less enjoyable tend to "run together" so you can remember that something happened, but not the details or when it happened.