Adventure Gamers - Forums

Hi everyone,

in our latest Kickstarter update we posted our 10 Game Design Rules. We’d be interested to know if you agree with them or would add/subtract any. What’s your opinion?

1. Clear objectives: The player has to know at all times what his or her objectives are. Puzzles can be hard, twisted and disguised. But the objectives have to be clear.
2. Multiple objectives: Give the player more than one thing to do at the same time. Avoid linearity. If the player has 2, 3 or 4 things (not more than that) to do all the time he or she stays engaged and the threat of blockers is reduced.
3. Start small and expand: When you start a chapter there should initially be only a few locations and characters. Then expand. New locations and new characters are a reward and important to give the player a sense of progress. Don’t waste that!
4. Flow is everything: Keep the story moving. Every solved puzzle leads to a new one. Every answered question leads to new, more urgent questions. If something seems to block the flow: Remove it.
5. All is one: Story, puzzles, jokes, art, music… everything has to work hand in hand. They are not separate disciplines. Everything can affect the story and the story influences everything.
6. Less is better: Perfection is achieved when there is nothing left to take away. Something is boring: Scrap it. Something isn’t as funny or emotional as it should be? Make it better or discard it and do something new.
7. Beginning & End: No part of the game will be played by as many people as the beginning. It better be good. But the showdown is the last thing real fans are going to see of the game. Make it as exciting, emotional and pleasing as possible.
8. Make it for the ages: Ten years from now the game should be as good and funny as today. So don’t include the flavor of the week.
9. Make it a game to remember: Nobody remembers cheap laughs or thrills. People remember characters, emotions and a good story. Don’t sacrifice them for an easy fix.
10. Have fun: Have fun making the game. It shows.

I saw those in the Kickstarter update and I agree with those rules (though I’m sure you can find some great games that break them). They largely echo Ron Gilbert’s Rules of Thumb from a quarter of a century ago, but they’re still worth stating.

I have a particular fondness for rule #3. I hate games that dump me in the middle of some gigantic location filled with puzzles upon puzzles, which I know I’m going to have to spend hours exploring before I’m able to really do anything, with a constant fear of inadvertently solving a puzzle that I don’t know about yet because I haven’t been to the right location (DOTT, Discworld 1, act 2 of GF, LSL7, etc. are particularly guilty of that).

I much prefer an ever-expanding gameworld, with new areas unlocked as puzzles are solved and the story progresses; Beneath a Steel Sky might be the best game I’ve ever played in that respect.

So yeah, I like those rules. Obviously principles are one thing and execution in another, but starting from good principles is always a good thing.

Re Rule #3…
I don’t mind starting with large locations as long as I have an idea of what I’m supposed to do next.
But if you are supposed to solve puzzles in a certain order, you shouldn’t be able to access the puzzle too early. Otherwise it’s a bug. Wasn’t there some problem like that in Myst V—where you could inadvertantly skip a sizable chunk of the game by solving a puzzle too early?

I’d add a few things to the list—

Don’t repeat the same puzzles throughout the game. Clumsy drawing of symbols with the mouse (Myst V) and timed pattern matching to open locks (Dreamfall) are two examples. Consider that a player may not enjoy that type of puzzle, and being forced to repeat that puzzle type 10 times isn’t going to change their mind.

Consider alternate solutions to dexterity-dependent puzzles. Some gamers play adventures when they can’t play anything else—for example if they have their arm in a cast due to a broken wrist—a right-handed person trying to play with their left hand, or vice versa, just isn’t going to have much dexterity. So dexterity-dependent puzzles may essentially be dead ends if there is no alternate solution.

And of course, test enough to get rid of as many bugs as possible. Test on a wide variety of computer configurations and, if possible, use beta testers who use a variety of playing strategies.

It would also be helpful if the readme would state the driver versions a game was tested with, since the “latest” drivers at the time of testing aren’t likely to be the drivers the player is using months or years after the game went through testing—and playing “driver roulette” with older drivers to find one that works is no one’s idea of fun.

diego - 27 February 2014 11:46 AM

3. Start small and expand:

That would probably work best in most cases, but I also appreciate games that do not “care” if they’ll scare the players by putting their cards on the table right away - Monkey Island series: “Here’s an island. Do what you wish with it”, right at the beginning.

At the same time, TSOMI has perhaps one of the best examples of following this rule right at the very beginning. Your first puzzle (which also adheres to rule #1) is just “go talk to the pirate captains in the SCUMM bar”, and you literally cannot go anywhere else until you’ve talked to them and they’ve introduced you to the three trials. The game world opens up very smoothly and gradually from there, especially since first-time players are almost certainly going to have a look around the town before they even think about exploring the interior of the island.

In contrast, lack of structure and “too much to explore at a time” is one of the things I think weighs down MI2 so that it’s not quite at the level of the first one.

No, I’m pretty sure you can’t. As I recall it, you can neither enter the town nor go back up the cliff past the lookout until you’ve talked to the captains in the SCUMM bar. Guybrush will just remind you what he’s supposed to be doing and turn back. So you start off the game with a clear long-term goal (become a pirate), a clear short-term objective (talk to the pirate leaders), and a small, constrained area to explore, with a limited number of characters. That seems to me like a perfect example of rule #1 and #3 in action.

Once you’ve been GIVEN the quests you can choose not to solve them and just explore the island (though several areas are barred until you solve various puzzles), but because TSOMI is so good at providing objectives and doling out plot tokens at a steady rate (rule #4; examples are things like learning about LeChuck from the pirates in the SCUMM bar as you’re looking for the leaders, talking to the voodoo woman, running into Fester Shinetop and then Elaine), and because the game world is broken up into different regions that you can explore one at a time and each of which aren’t too daunting, I don’t think it ever feels like you’re just cast adrift into some huge world you have to go discover before you can achieve anything.

crabapple - 27 February 2014 11:58 AM

I’d add a few things to the list—

Don’t repeat the same puzzles throughout the game. Clumsy drawing of symbols with the mouse (Myst V) and timed pattern matching to open locks (Dreamfall) are two examples. Consider that a player may not enjoy that type of puzzle, and being forced to repeat that puzzle type 10 times isn’t going to change their mind.

I completely agree with that one! There’s nothing worse than playing a game where the developer has got a ‘bee in their bonnet’ about what they see as a fantastic puzzle that they repeat too much!. A couple of exceptions for me include the deduction boards in Sherlock Holmes & the grid puzzles in To the Moon as they seem so integral to the game.

crabapple - 27 February 2014 11:58 AM

Consider alternate solutions to dexterity-dependent puzzles. Some gamers play adventures when they can’t play anything else—for example if they have their arm in a cast due to a broken wrist—a right-handed person trying to play with their left hand, or vice versa, just isn’t going to have much dexterity. So dexterity-dependent puzzles may essentially be dead ends if there is no alternate solution.

Yes, it’s just going to upset the flow of a game for a player. Also please think about including extra (optional?) clues for players who are colour blind or have some hearing loss/are tone deaf in the case of puzzles that require the use of those senses.

diego - 27 February 2014 11:46 AM

(just kiddin’, just kiddin’ - sorry Jazz lovers!)

 

Ha! very funny & cruel but fair diego! - but you didn’t apologise to the rockers who some of them I know can play even 4 or 5+ chords!  I love rock music but there really is nothing nicer than listening to a live jazz band on a lazy Sunday lunchtime with a few beers! (Unfortunately I haven’t got to do that for years!)

Reminds me of the Bill of Player’s Rights from Graham Nelson’s The Craft of Adventure. They were written with text adventures in mind, but most of the guidelines could probably still be applied or adapted to graphical adventures.

Marco Rosenberg (KING Art Games) - 27 February 2014 09:55 AM

Hi everyone,

in our latest Kickstarter update we posted our 10 Game Design Rules. We’d be interested to know if you agree with them or would add/subtract any. What’s your opinion?

1. Clear objectives: The player has to know at all times what his or her objectives are. Puzzles can be hard, twisted and disguised. But the objectives have to be clear.

I want the objectives to be as over-arching as possible, and in no way steer me to the solution. I should know the point of the game, or the prime motivator of the protagonist. If something doesn’t work, I should know why it didn’t work. But the more specific and nitpicky the objectives are, the more you encroach on the fun of discovering the issues yourself.

2. Multiple objectives: Give the player more than one thing to do at the same time. Avoid linearity. If the player has 2, 3 or 4 things (not more than that) to do all the time he or she stays engaged and the threat of blockers is reduced.

Agreed. More is better.

I would add a rule here though, try not to rely on stale tropes for your puzzle design. Don’t make every game about “find the three pieces of the sacred object” or “complete the three fetch tasks to pass.” Try to make the things you are solving seem natural and compelling and not just formulaic.

3. Start small and expand: When you start a chapter there should initially be only a few locations and characters. Then expand. New locations and new characters are a reward and important to give the player a sense of progress. Don’t waste that!

I like this. It doesn’t have to be drawn out though. And don’t force the linearity in an unnatural way, by just arbitrarily restricting hotspots or locations that you can plainly see.

4. Flow is everything: Keep the story moving. Every solved puzzle leads to a new one. Every answered question leads to new, more urgent questions. If something seems to block the flow: Remove it.

I think small moments of respite and diversion can be a lot of fun and add to the engagement. There are some games where I want the character to be able to enjoy the moment for a second. It can always be optional content.

5. All is one: Story, puzzles, jokes, art, music… everything has to work hand in hand. They are not separate disciplines. Everything can affect the story and the story influences everything.

Agreed.

6. Less is better: Perfection is achieved when there is nothing left to take away. Something is boring: Scrap it. Something isn’t as funny or emotional as it should be? Make it better or discard it and do something new.

Generally true, but a lot of discarded scenes are often some of the coolest ones. I’d rather play a really cool scene with great puzzles even if it wasn’t critically needed for the story than not. I love The Dig, but I’m pretty sure I recall hearing of some deleted scenes that bummed me out.

7. Beginning & End: No part of the game will be played by as many people as the beginning. It better be good. But the showdown is the last thing real fans are going to see of the game. Make it as exciting, emotional and pleasing as possible.

Totally agree, especially for the beginning. When I really want to replay a game, it’s often the beginning of the game that I keep craving in my mind. Also don’t make the beginning immediately dark and panicked, a good exposition does a lot for the feel.

8. Make it for the ages: Ten years from now the game should be as good and funny as today. So don’t include the flavor of the week.

Sure

9. Make it a game to remember: Nobody remembers cheap laughs or thrills. People remember characters, emotions and a good story. Don’t sacrifice them for an easy fix.

This seems like a throwaway that could be incorporated into other rules.

How about this? Don’t over-narrate or explain. Playing a game is not like reading a book, or even watching a movie. The player wants to play, so make things move. Make narration and dialog concise and punchy. Don’t try too hard on the jokes, it becomes cringey. The humor of monkey island was mostly in your head, not directly in the text. The writing was extremely minimal. It was the things you did and the way everything looked that was funny. Long reading sections are exhausting and should be cut down to their barest essentials.

10. Have fun: Have fun making the game. It shows.

Agreed. And try to make it creative and original.

11. Always remember to break every rule.

Bt