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I'm sure in our time as gamers we've all come across puzzles that have had us stumped. Hidden exits or having to use certain items in certain places, maybe.
We've tried to do all kinds of stupid things, push into every wall, looking for the answer, or back-track right through the game, looking for something that you might have missed.
When we figure it out, it's not satisfying, it's frustating that we spent so long doing it wrong.
So is it a good idea for a game to help you out, rather than letting you get really wound up with it?
If you're loitering by the exit, but unable to see it, why not have your character glance up sometimes, just to give the player a bit of a clue, or why not have a non-playable character wander by, maybe an enemy can come out of the exit, so you see where it is.
If we get frustrated with a game, we don't tend to rate it too highly, so surely finding ways to stop gamers getting frustrated is something that developers should be working on?
Improving Ai has the bad guys responding to how you play now, so if you're playing an FPS, but you can't hit a cow's behind with a shovel (as you do) then the enemy is likely to come much closer before they try to shoot at you. This makes for a much kinder learning curve, and as you improve, so do the bad guys.
Sometimes I don't think that developers understand the need for a kind learning curve, and throw us in at the deep end, or give us too many abilities early on, and as such we don't fully appreciate it, but hopefully, it time to come, we'll begin to see struggling gamers given subtle hints (and blatent answers if they still struggle) maybe enemies will let you get the first hit in, just to be sporting, and as a result, we'll find the whole experience more enjoyable, and probably end up being better at the game thaan had we have had to fumble our way through at the beginning.
We've tried to do all kinds of stupid things, push into every wall, looking for the answer, or back-track right through the game, looking for something that you might have missed.
When we figure it out, it's not satisfying, it's frustating that we spent so long doing it wrong.
So is it a good idea for a game to help you out, rather than letting you get really wound up with it?
If you're loitering by the exit, but unable to see it, why not have your character glance up sometimes, just to give the player a bit of a clue, or why not have a non-playable character wander by, maybe an enemy can come out of the exit, so you see where it is.
If we get frustrated with a game, we don't tend to rate it too highly, so surely finding ways to stop gamers getting frustrated is something that developers should be working on?
Improving Ai has the bad guys responding to how you play now, so if you're playing an FPS, but you can't hit a cow's behind with a shovel (as you do) then the enemy is likely to come much closer before they try to shoot at you. This makes for a much kinder learning curve, and as you improve, so do the bad guys.
Sometimes I don't think that developers understand the need for a kind learning curve, and throw us in at the deep end, or give us too many abilities early on, and as such we don't fully appreciate it, but hopefully, it time to come, we'll begin to see struggling gamers given subtle hints (and blatent answers if they still struggle) maybe enemies will let you get the first hit in, just to be sporting, and as a result, we'll find the whole experience more enjoyable, and probably end up being better at the game thaan had we have had to fumble our way through at the beginning.
I find puzzles very well done... Zelda and Resident Evil are the best examples of this and they are some of the greatest games in the world.
I hate the fact you don't get any choice in Sonic Adventure 2.
You try to work out how to hurt the boss you're against (which is usually pretty obvious), however, you lose a life in trying and a bloody Chao comes along and tells you straight!
You try to work out how to hurt the boss you're against (which is usually pretty obvious), however, you lose a life in trying and a bloody Chao comes along and tells you straight!
V.V.V.V.V. wrote:
I'm
> still unsure whether this kind of thing is good (we don't pay 40 quid to be
> frustrated and bewildered) - or whether it just makes completing games all too
> easy.
But it's your choice when to call him for help, isn't it?
If you think that you can figure it out eventually, you wouldn't bother calling. If you have no will-power, and get talked through every puzzle because you can't be bothered to think it out for yourself, it's your own fault thatn you've ruined the game.
I guess it would be a test of will power.
I'm
> still unsure whether this kind of thing is good (we don't pay 40 quid to be
> frustrated and bewildered) - or whether it just makes completing games all too
> easy.
But it's your choice when to call him for help, isn't it?
If you think that you can figure it out eventually, you wouldn't bother calling. If you have no will-power, and get talked through every puzzle because you can't be bothered to think it out for yourself, it's your own fault thatn you've ruined the game.
I guess it would be a test of will power.
When you are stuck on Metal Gear Solid 2 you can call up Otacon on the codec at any time and he will give you a subtle hint.
If you still can't solve the puzzle, call him again and he'll give you a clear hint.
If you still don't know what to do, call him again and he'll virtually spell it out for you.
I'm still unsure whether this kind of thing is good (we don't pay 40 quid to be frustrated and bewildered) - or whether it just makes completing games all too easy.
If you still can't solve the puzzle, call him again and he'll give you a clear hint.
If you still don't know what to do, call him again and he'll virtually spell it out for you.
I'm still unsure whether this kind of thing is good (we don't pay 40 quid to be frustrated and bewildered) - or whether it just makes completing games all too easy.
Good topic, and I pretty much agree with you Meka.
But then developers would have to consider how obvious the answer is to gamers - depending on the target audience.
With older, more experienced gamers, they'd want the game to appear more difficult and challenging - but only to a certain extent. But problems would occur if this game was aimed at younger gamers also.
They may find it too hard due to a lack of experience and give up on the game. But by making it easier, it would also effect the older gamers, as they could find it all too easy, making the game way too short and simple.
I'm sure that if there is a way to solve this problem, then it will appear in games one day. But as for know, we'll just have to stick with it and learn from it.
But then developers would have to consider how obvious the answer is to gamers - depending on the target audience.
With older, more experienced gamers, they'd want the game to appear more difficult and challenging - but only to a certain extent. But problems would occur if this game was aimed at younger gamers also.
They may find it too hard due to a lack of experience and give up on the game. But by making it easier, it would also effect the older gamers, as they could find it all too easy, making the game way too short and simple.
I'm sure that if there is a way to solve this problem, then it will appear in games one day. But as for know, we'll just have to stick with it and learn from it.
I've had a thought about this myself.
I want to make [censored].
Damn.
But imagine if there was somebody there that tried to figure out the puzzle too. If you were getting really stumped, you could ask them for help. Even more stumped, and perhaps they could work it out themselves. The less help you need, the better your score, or whatever.
I want to make [censored].
Damn.
But imagine if there was somebody there that tried to figure out the puzzle too. If you were getting really stumped, you could ask them for help. Even more stumped, and perhaps they could work it out themselves. The less help you need, the better your score, or whatever.
I'm sure in our time as gamers we've all come across puzzles that have had us stumped. Hidden exits or having to use certain items in certain places, maybe.
We've tried to do all kinds of stupid things, push into every wall, looking for the answer, or back-track right through the game, looking for something that you might have missed.
When we figure it out, it's not satisfying, it's frustating that we spent so long doing it wrong.
So is it a good idea for a game to help you out, rather than letting you get really wound up with it?
If you're loitering by the exit, but unable to see it, why not have your character glance up sometimes, just to give the player a bit of a clue, or why not have a non-playable character wander by, maybe an enemy can come out of the exit, so you see where it is.
If we get frustrated with a game, we don't tend to rate it too highly, so surely finding ways to stop gamers getting frustrated is something that developers should be working on?
Improving Ai has the bad guys responding to how you play now, so if you're playing an FPS, but you can't hit a cow's behind with a shovel (as you do) then the enemy is likely to come much closer before they try to shoot at you. This makes for a much kinder learning curve, and as you improve, so do the bad guys.
Sometimes I don't think that developers understand the need for a kind learning curve, and throw us in at the deep end, or give us too many abilities early on, and as such we don't fully appreciate it, but hopefully, it time to come, we'll begin to see struggling gamers given subtle hints (and blatent answers if they still struggle) maybe enemies will let you get the first hit in, just to be sporting, and as a result, we'll find the whole experience more enjoyable, and probably end up being better at the game thaan had we have had to fumble our way through at the beginning.
We've tried to do all kinds of stupid things, push into every wall, looking for the answer, or back-track right through the game, looking for something that you might have missed.
When we figure it out, it's not satisfying, it's frustating that we spent so long doing it wrong.
So is it a good idea for a game to help you out, rather than letting you get really wound up with it?
If you're loitering by the exit, but unable to see it, why not have your character glance up sometimes, just to give the player a bit of a clue, or why not have a non-playable character wander by, maybe an enemy can come out of the exit, so you see where it is.
If we get frustrated with a game, we don't tend to rate it too highly, so surely finding ways to stop gamers getting frustrated is something that developers should be working on?
Improving Ai has the bad guys responding to how you play now, so if you're playing an FPS, but you can't hit a cow's behind with a shovel (as you do) then the enemy is likely to come much closer before they try to shoot at you. This makes for a much kinder learning curve, and as you improve, so do the bad guys.
Sometimes I don't think that developers understand the need for a kind learning curve, and throw us in at the deep end, or give us too many abilities early on, and as such we don't fully appreciate it, but hopefully, it time to come, we'll begin to see struggling gamers given subtle hints (and blatent answers if they still struggle) maybe enemies will let you get the first hit in, just to be sporting, and as a result, we'll find the whole experience more enjoyable, and probably end up being better at the game thaan had we have had to fumble our way through at the beginning.