Game Scores
 

Do you think it hurts a game or adds to it when they can get a score for doing something in the game and showing the score.

Well, I think scores can be frustrating in non-arcade game...

You beat a game, and feel great, then all of the sudden you get a "300 of 450 points", "70%" or "D-" score message at the end of the game, and feel bad all of the sudden...

The problem is, that to get an "A++++", "105%", "450 of 450 points" you'll have to use a walkthrough for every single move, which ruins the game...

In terms of Police Quest and it's likes (basically every adventure from Sierra), it can be a good thing. It makes you want to go back and try and figure out the little secrets that gives you extra points. Also, it also tells you about approximately how far you are into the game.

So, if you have 2000 points and can get 4000 points, you expect to be about halfways. But it really depends on how many extra points you gather throughout the game, say if the game is finished by the time you reach 3200 points, you have 800 points of secrets left to discover.

This is the good things about points.

Then you have the no-points system of LucaArts adventures (most of them at least). This could be compared to how it's popular to remove all HUDs in games today. Like The Getaway or King Kong. You'll never know how far you're into the game by looking at the score, but you'll have to be involved with the story to understand when it's coming to an end.

Thank you for that bit of info , it helps mucho lot.
It will be a simple score system not showing to much .

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/1930/score8si.th.png

Scores frustrate me.
If shows me when I'm drawing near the end, and it shows me that I'm a moron and skipped a bunch of optional stuff.

That's what bothers me most about scores, the fact that you know when you're almost at the end. Granted, you can usually tell on your own... but I still don't like to know the joyful experience is almost over!

I never had the urge to go back and find out what else I had to do to get the points I missed, because mostly it was stuff that didn't matter anyway.

Not at all. Pong is some serious fun!

When its a multiplayer team game and you all have your individual scores i think it defeats the point, everyone is focusing on their own victory and not the teams.

I dislike score systems in adventure games. I'd rather enjoy the actual game instead of worrying about a pointless score. Scores work in other genres, but not for adventure games.

An example of this in a recent game is with Return to Mysterious Island.

Thank you for all the feed back. I was wondering if I should add the score system or not but will remove it now.

I can't remember a Sierra game that didn't have a scoring system. Although, much to my dismay, sometimes the scoring system was totally artificial. Best example is the first Shivers game. One could, literally, ride the first elevator forever, amassing points that would never get you to the first puzzle.

It one point, a few of us decided that the real trick would be to finish the game with the lowest possible score.

Scoring with the LSL games had a purpose in that points were also awarded for finding easter eggs. So, if you ended with a less than perfect score, you knew you missed something worth searching for.

For those who are saying they don't like scores because they show when you're near the end... just curious, what if the score wasn't displayed on the main screen? What if you could only see it from the game options, or if you had the choice to toggle it on/off the main screen? Do you think that would change your opinion?

Just thinking that might be a good alternative, especially for those who like to go back and replay to get points they missed. You could play through the first time without seeing the score (the game would still be tracking it for you, but you wouldn't see it on screen). The second time you played you could opt to have the score turned on, so you could try various things to try to get all the points. On the second play through, you'd already know how the game ends, so seeing the score wouldn't ruin anything for you.

My favourite game score is Grim Fandango. ;)

Seriously, I think scores are a bit anal. They just break up the flow of the game and make the player feel guilty.

I look at a walkthrough for almost every single game I play (in all genres). Not to see the answers, but to see how many levels, areas, there are. That way I can measure my progress as I play and allot my free time around it.

So boviously, I like scoring systems for the express reason that they tell me how close I am to the end and how I am doing.

Fov's answer is the best, but I fail to see why it matters if there is a score or not. Just ignore it if you don't like it.

LOL! Great typo.

Would that translate to: "In a cow-like manner", I like scoring sytems?

Some of you use scores to see how close to the end you are. But what if you don't know the total amount of points you can get. Like I'm playing Return to Mysterious Island right now and I don't know how many points there are to get. And I'm pretty much just ignoring the score while I'm playing the game (it's not on the main screen, it's in the inventory on another screen).