Prime Powers

Despite the fact that the preceding chat has almost nothing to do with the title (mostly, it seems like an outlet for N’Gai Croal to complain about backtracking in 3D games), I’m going to suggest that you take a look at this discussion, if for no other reason than the fact that Croal is still a better writer and thinker than almost anyone else in the game journalism industry.

Who wins?  So far, Croal.  Stephen Totilo makes a number of assertions, then appears to contradict them (a handful of great game openings doesn’t mean that they’re not rare; and of course, going on to criticize others just undermines his basic point).  At the same time, there are a few key points that he makes that are worth thinking about… namely, how much should developers give away in terms of powers up front?  I like the Empowerment theory here - that gamers are best rewarded through increasing capabilities. 

More to the point, I’ve found that most games don’t do a great job in pacing these capabilities.  Generally speaking, there are a few really useful powers - think spread gun in Contra - and you spend most of the game ignoring your other capabilities or using them only occasionally as a novelty.  (Even in Bioshock, I used the machine gun 90% of the time.) 

How can this be fixed?  I can think of a few ways.  First, let players get comfortable using one power for a while before springing another one on them.  I’d love to have some time when the pistol really is useful.  Second, don’t let a power or weapon become obsolete - make sure that it’s always useful for something unique and that it’s intuitive to the player what that is.  For example, it’s not enough just to make one enemy vulnerable to electricity (switch to the electric gun!) and another to fire (go back to the lava gun!),  They need to be distinct powers in their own right.  It also doesn’t help if it takes me till the end of the game to realize what their best uses are.  Third, don’t put a worthless power in the game.  If it doesn’t have value, leave it out.  I don’t really object to a more limited set of powers if those powers can be more effectively used and upgraded throughout the course of the game.  And finally, don’t stop providing the player with both the powers and the ability to use them… nothing annoys me more than getting 3/4 through a game and realizing that there’s nothing left to discover.