Maintaining the IllusionVirtual worlds that keep the player in the game

Player perception is Key

• The game cannot be infinitely large, completely non-linear, or as smart as the player. Instead of achieving these, control what you can: the player’s perception of the game world.

• Many games go nowhere due to simple oddities that break the player's experience.

“Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.”

Destroying the Illusion

• Unreasonable boundaries

• Unnecessary hand-holding

• Uninteresting environments

• Strict linearity

Unreasonable BoundariesGiant blue walls in the world really take me out of

the game.

OPEN WORLDThe promise of free exploration in an open world...

The first Assassin’s Creed had a lot of promise, but the blocked-off areas were very distracting.

Unnecessary Hand-holdingDon’t explicitly remind me that I’m in a fake world; that doesn’t help keep me entranced in your game.

That annoying owl in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. He wouldn’t stop talking!

Uninteresting Environments

It doesn’t get much more boring than this. PONG was more interesting to look at.

Superman 64 will be forever known as one of the worst video games of all time.

Strict Linearity

Don’t make me walk the line.

Final Fantasy X was so linear, you had to walk back through every single area to get back to

the beginning.

Maintaining the Illusion

• Reasonable boundaries

• Show, don’t tell

• Environment depth: layering, backgrounds, and skyboxes

• Controlled freedom

Reasonable BoundariesGood boundary placement makes the player forget

that there could’ve been other options.

The boundaries in Left 4 Dead 2 feel so reasonable that the player’s first thought isn’t “why is there a wall?” but “how do I get around?”

Show, Don’t TellGive me something to do right away. Teach me

how to play by letting me play.Non-diagetic dialogue should be uncommon and

very brief.

Everybody remembers those first exciting moments from Final Fantasy VII.

Show, Don’t Tell

Portal 2 throws you right into the game with a “good luck.” Catch on quick or Wheatley and GLaDOS will kill you.

Layering

Even flat games can have layered worlds.

Donkey Kong Country 2 had two background layers, a terrain layer, a sprites layer, and a foreground layer.

BackgroundsThemed objects with which the player doesn’t interact; unnecessary for the gameplay, necessary for the game.

Crash Bandicoot: Warped had background objects that became foreground objects later in a level.

SkyBoxesGod gave you more than a blue gradient to look at

in the sky. Give me something worth seeing.

The Halo skybox was not only interesting but also thematic to the game.

Diagrams taken from gamedesignreviews.com

Controlled Freedom

Diagrams taken from gamedesignreviews.com

Controlled Freedom

Diagram taken from gamasutra.com

Controlled Freedom

On the small scale, a critical path with branches is a good combination.

Diagrams taken from gamedesignreviews.com

Controlled Freedom

On the large scale, controlled networks are an ideal solution.

Diagrams taken from gamedesignreviews.com

Controlled Freedom

Maintain the Illusion• Make sure to have reasonable boundaries that the player won’t think twice about.

• Show (don’t tell) the player how to play, or you will break the player’s experience.

• Use layering, backgrounds, and skyboxes to provide an interesting environment that convinces the player there’s more to the world than they are seeing.

• Provide the player with direction and control his movements, but be careful not to make a strictly linear game.

Maintain the Illusion