One long adventure or a series of short ones?
by Thijs Sloesen · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 04/18/2004 (9:01 am) · 4 replies
Hi,
I've been thinking about something and decided to throw it into the group, see what you guys think about this.
I wonder what would be better received by the audience; a game where you have one long adventure where the player is trying to reach one big objective, or a game where you have a series of smaller adventures or goals.
To make it a bit more concrete, take a detective game for instance. Would it be a good idea to have the player solve one big mistery thoughout the entire game? Or would the player be more delighted with about 10 smaller misteries?
I think would go for the idea of the multiple smaller objectives, but I'm not entirely sure that applies to each game genre.
So... any thoughts on this? :)
I've been thinking about something and decided to throw it into the group, see what you guys think about this.
I wonder what would be better received by the audience; a game where you have one long adventure where the player is trying to reach one big objective, or a game where you have a series of smaller adventures or goals.
To make it a bit more concrete, take a detective game for instance. Would it be a good idea to have the player solve one big mistery thoughout the entire game? Or would the player be more delighted with about 10 smaller misteries?
I think would go for the idea of the multiple smaller objectives, but I'm not entirely sure that applies to each game genre.
So... any thoughts on this? :)
#2
04/19/2004 (1:07 am)
Yeah Ive been thinking about that and seems like the best-fits-all solution :) Thanks for your thoughts!
#3
04/19/2004 (11:33 am)
I wouldn't call them side-quests so much as sub-quests. The larger goal should emerge as a naturall extension of the events that happen in the individual episodes. I find excessive sidequests that are (completely) unrelated to the overall plot to actually detract from the gameplay experience (note recent final fantasy games). That might just be my preference, though.
#4
04/20/2004 (1:35 am)
My preference too Alex - my wording was just wrong. The "sidequests" must relate to overall story/goal - else they become meaningless and tedious. The perfect adventure is like a good book. 3-4-5 "story threads" that come together in the end for a climax in the story. 
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