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View Full Version : Bad Game Designer, No Twinkie! IX



Gazza_N
09-10-2008, 08:01 PM
Hooray! This year's Bad Game Designer, No Twinkie! is up on Gamasutra, and it's well worth the read.

Click, if you know what's good for you. (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3812/the_designers_notebook_bad_game_.php)

edg3
09-10-2008, 09:17 PM
I must say, I agreed with every last point brought up in that article. He says he didnt expect people to take it seriously, but if more people did, perhaps we would see a lot more quality and less shortcuts.

What stood out mostly for me is the console to pc/pc to console ports. An example is Quake 4, its awesome to play on pc, but somewhere along the lines it died on its journey to the console, like they expected the same sort of sensitivity needs from a controller that they got right on a mouse. It just seems like they dont care and they are on the money rollercoaster "lets milk it while we can." Not to say I want to just bash Quake 4, there are countless titles that didnt work out.

On another note, the same can be said for crappy movie to games/games to movies ports. :P

Kensei
09-10-2008, 09:50 PM
Very valid points in this article - Thanks Gaz, my life is enriched :D

The control scheme conversion is very valid - It's actually why I play the majority of my action games with my Xbox controller on my laptop.

Gazza_N
10-10-2008, 07:38 AM
The "Fake Interactivity" one is particularly grating, I think. Fortunately I haven't played anything with that mechanic in it yet, but I can understand why people hate it.

Expecting the player to ignore established game rules is another one that I find highly annoying. How many times have you been stuck in a game because the designers expect you to do something that's resulted in certain death (or no response at all) every time you've tried it? They may think it's clever or funny. I think they deserve to have a Twinkie deducted from their daily ration.

FuzzYspo0N
10-10-2008, 10:54 AM
The save game one happened to me far too many times in oblivion, but luckily i had previous saves i could go back to.

Ill note one thing i mentioned at work yesterday, a save game of 20 something MB is ridiculous. Saving screenshots and hires video? What are they saving in there? I hit quicksave a number of times during game play and after about 2 hours get owned with a "run out of disc space" message in windows.

Anyway great article as always. i like that its user suggested but moderated by the experienced = win reading.

Kensei
10-10-2008, 12:12 PM
The "Fake Interactivity" one is particularly grating, I think. Fortunately I haven't played anything with that mechanic in it yet, but I can understand why people hate it.

I have, most recently with TR:Legend, Lara performs the most amazing tricks but pressing a button in time with the movements seems cheap and tacky. The actual game was good, the character shows immense versatility - so why the 'interactive' cut scenes.

The breaking the rules thing (without explanation) is unforgivable - Some do become cult classics though, like the red herrings in Maniac Mansion. And, unfortunately, this 'breaking the rules' happens a lot more than we care to admit. I'll use the example of Painkiller, there is one level where there is a hidden ledge down on of the cliff sides. You cannot see the ledge when you look around, but, if you leap to your certain death at a specific point, you will hit it.

Some have gone the other way and have easily executed the 'scenario the player must lose'
Half-life 1, when the door shuts with the G-man looking at you as the rescue helicopter takes off.
Age of Empires 1: Joan of Arc campaign when following history that her army was outnumbered and she was captured.

Chippit
10-10-2008, 12:27 PM
I'll use the example of Painkiller, there is one level where there is a hidden ledge down on of the cliff sides. You cannot see the ledge when you look around, but, if you leap to your certain death at a specific point, you will hit it.
Actually, I must disagree here. Painkiller's secrets were very well hidden, but they all had some clues to their presence if you looked around carefully enough. Some were only visible from other portions of the level, but there was always a way to see that something was there. I found every single one of them this way. In fact, Painkiller was probably the last game I ever actually tried to totally complete. And that final special bonus level was totally worth it. :P

Kensei
10-10-2008, 04:01 PM
Understood, Chippit :) I forget to mention that I hate obsessively trying to 100% a game (I didn't know there was a secret level :( )

I'll use another example then - Blue Dragon, you fight the final boss near the beginning of the game - and get your ass handed to you on a platter. That is not the way to inspire a person to pick themselves up and continue.
In fact its likely why I hate some JRPGs, the illusion of choice bugs the hell out of me.
At one point, in the same game, you have to 'choose' to keep the forcefield up and watch your robot friends die one by one against it, or lower it and save them. If you choose Yes the story DOES NOT progress - that is not a ****ing choice, that is just silly.

Chippit
10-10-2008, 04:36 PM
Understood, Chippit :) I forget to mention that I hate obsessively trying to 100% a game (I didn't know there was a secret level :( )
I think I need to clarify that wasn't obsessively trying to 100% it at all. It was simply fun to play. I don't even remember the newest game I actually even finished. Painkiller was just enjoyable, so I kept playing. As it turned out, the simply act of playing more resulted in me finding all the cards, which subsequently allowed me to then replay on the highest difficulty. And it was still fun then too.

cairnswm
10-10-2008, 08:50 PM
The last game I "finished" was starcraft....