seems like there's some confusion about how game design works, luckily I sometimes do game design so I can explain here's our scenario - in our game we have a room and the only thing we've made interactable is this piece of paper on a desk - ThreadSky

ironicaccount.bsky.social • 55 days ago

seems like there's some confusion about how game design works, luckily I sometimes do game design so I can explain

here's our scenario - in our game we have a room and the only thing we've made interactable is this piece of paper on a desk

Comments

raiganburns.bsky.social•55 days ago

IMO you could just stick with this nice minimal version: if that's not an interesting enough experience as-is, then maybe the fundamental problem is that the "gameplay" isn't great -- and you'd only be papering over that with all the fancy graphics (and the obfuscation/complexity they bring). ;)

beetlenaut.bsky.social•55 days ago

yeah honestly the first image looks the best, thats too much distracting crap around that paper

bdsampson.bsky.social•54 days ago

I don't think "picking things up off tables" is the primary gameplay loop.
In a narrative game, how immersion breaking would it be to go into a room where literally the only thing there is the piece of info you're looking for?

rollplusfun.bsky.social•54 days ago

But from a design perspective, If it’s the only thing I can do, why are you making me do it at all? Why not just make it a cut scene? Where’s the player agency and decision space?

zusty.bsky.social•54 days ago

true! but in a narrative game, if that one object is literally the only thing with any information/interactivity in the room, that is pretty bad from the get-go.
obvs the example here is very exaggerated, and I suspect is more geared towards a different type of game conceptually

raiganburns.bsky.social•54 days ago

yeah! that's what I was trying to articulate: if just the paper on the table is boring, making it appear much fancier (and more confusing to parse as a player) doesn't actually solve the boring-ness problem, it only obfuscates it. For some reason this seems like a really common problem in AAA games.

zusty.bsky.social•54 days ago

GOD for absolute real

zusty.bsky.social•54 days ago

there's so many ways to solve this overall problem that are generally incompatible with AAA 'production values!' way bigger selection hitboxes, non-interactable/readable objects have less detail or have a different color palette, etc, but yeah, AAA loves to not differentiate these things visually

raiganburns.bsky.social•54 days ago

IMO from player's POV, in all cases they **are** going into a space where the only thing truly there is the piece of paper -- because all of those graphical embellishments aren't really "there" in the same way (they're significantly less "real", since they don't react -- they're just wallpaper).

raiganburns.bsky.social•54 days ago

They question is, is it fun for players to parse which single thing out of the 40 visual things is truly real -- IMO this isn't usually that fun. Trying to short-cut this process with visual hints doesn't solve the fundamental problem: there's only 1 thing to do in the room (that's what's boring).

ironicaccount.bsky.social•55 days ago

but we can't ship a game looking like that, the art team's going to do some set dressing and fill this room with rich environmental context and history

the gameplay remains about interacting with that specific piece of paper on the desk

nicholasmc1.bsky.social•55 days ago

I can't afford all the props so my room looks like the first example and my design is perfect... Except the players still miss the paper.

alantielrainne.bsky.social•55 days ago

It's at this step where everything goes wrong: by putting non-significant things on equal visual footing with significant things, the artists are trying to prove they're Good Artists but are actually showing they're bad artists, which later people need Yellow Paint to compensate for.

ironicaccount.bsky.social•55 days ago

luckily we saw that talk where Valve said they make birds fly at the things they want players to look at and now we have several methods to subtly draw attention to our rooms only point of interaction

ironicaccount.bsky.social•55 days ago

bit of UI/UX, some voiceover read in a careful emotionally neutral tone and we're done!

gwenckatz.bsky.social•55 days ago

Player spends two hours trying to examine the cobweb

donnovanhudson.com•55 days ago

I would play an entire game made to make fun of this concept, honestly.

jacobwmills.bsky.social•55 days ago

hmmmm

abandonedsheep.com•55 days ago

So... Like... I should hack that computer or something? I think I need a gamefaq for this one

tplus.games•55 days ago

I'm pretty sure you're joking, but I've talked with people who say we need all that.

moegamer.net•55 days ago

You forgot the NPC companion character telling you that it might be a good idea to *look at the paper*.

ironicaccount.bsky.social•55 days ago

that gets added after we flunk the first playtest

marcdwyz.bsky.social•55 days ago

Now add the mini map and waypoint 🤣

odin032402.bsky.social•55 days ago

Feedback from playtesters says the instructions were unclear. I think we need to increase the amount of paint.

Also you might wanna move that half-eaten sandwich, QA figured out how to get through the wall with it.