Another busy gamer issue that we frequently encounter is learning curve. How often do you pick up a game and drop it half an hour later because you're completely lost and don't have the patience to learn yet another set of controls? Or you put down a game for a few months and find it nearly impossible to remember how to play? Now, how do you balance the need for "pick up and play" gameplay against your desire for exploration and discovery? That's where the pure joy of gaming often emanates, and why this pair of tweets about Ico from ex-gaming journalist and PopCap social media maestro Jeff Green captured our interest:
I love that Ico just drops you into the world with no big explanations, tutorials, blinking arrows on screen. It's all for you to figure out
— Jeff Green (@Greenspeak) January 16, 2012
Feels like a lost art in game design: letting users figure stuff out, not babying them thru, letting the game explain itself.
— Jeff Green (@Greenspeak) January 16, 2012
Are there other games that get this right? The Elder Scrolls series is peppered with these moments of discovery, but it's burdened with complex controls and systems that require a lot of effort to master. Casual games are usually easy to figure out, but typically lack the depth to deliver these types of enjoyable epiphanies.
Where do you find the right balance?
Comments (1)
The Assassin's Creed series does a pretty good job of giving the player quite a bit to explore whilst keeping the game simple and easy to pick up and play.
Posted by Zach | January 29, 2012 5:36 PM
Posted on January 29, 2012 17:36