Hi Dark,
You use the term game mechanics which is partially what I mean when I
say game mechanism. The particular way that you play the game in
general has to be compelling to the player. Your comment about what
happens if the player is just required to react faster and faster or how
boring the simple act of fighting can become is an example of less
effective game mechanics. It is more than just the way in which you
play the game, it is the totality of the experience - simple mechanics,
lots of variation, good atmosphere and challenge.
The games that are most affected by poor game mechanics are arcade type
games, puzzle and tile games and shooters. I would love to come up with
a game mechanism that is as compelling as some of the match 3 games are
to sighted players where the game mechanics are simple, but the
variations and challenges are numerous - much like you describe for
Papasangre. That's the challenge game developers face when they design
a game.
Well - we can just keep trying.
Eleanor Robinson
7-128 Software
Dark said:
Hi Eleanor.
I'm afraid I'm not exactly sure what you mean by game mechanism here.
I've seen various forms of game with different controllers be more or less
successful. For example Papasangre on the Iphone very much has the sort of
difficulty you mention, plus good atmosphere and a simple challenge to get
into, but features a first person interface and a very unique control method
using the touch screen.
Entombed just uses menues and basic arrow key movement, but is one of the
most engaging games I've seen, albeit there are some balance issues which
make the flow of the game problematic.
Your own games use a basic keyboard choice interface which seems fine.
The problem of difficulty seems only tangentially tied to the game's
interface and control method. For me a far more serius problem is how!
difficulty increases.
For example, if the player is just required to react faster and faster and
faster, then there will simply be a point when enough is enough. If however
there are other factors than reaction involved, the player is tempted to try
again and again, sinse while reaction speed can improve only slowly, the
ability to get used to game mechanics and make correct judgements can
improve far more quickly.
Similarly for rpg or other management style games, if the player is tested
simply on their abaility to balance lots of equipment, but the fighting
itself is fairly dull (just hitting attack), the game can quickly become
uninteresting, sinse the player is not being continually tested,
particularly sinse the battle might already be lost because the player
simply does not have the correct gear. If however the player is required to
look at their enemy's movement and react to what they do, then the player's
chance of winning is equally dependent upon their ability to interpret and
react to what their enemy does.
Beware the grue!
Dark.
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