Saturday 16 August 2008

why hybrids can go wrong

I'm not just whining about the combat problems in TUQM because I'm a wuss, although I am. I'm annoyed because a game which has sections that are interesting and enjoyable to me is made inaccessible through another facet that doesn't directly relate to them.

This often comes up with hybrid game designs, or with minigames. "Hey, we've got a great little platformer going here... Let's add a poker game for variety!" But your player who is good at platformers and likes platformers and bought the game to play a platformer may HATE poker and be no good at it. If you make that poker game required, you cut off the rest of the actually-fun content from the player until they do something distinctly un-fun. That kinda sucks.

Obviously, this is only a problem if you are a player who likes one game type and not the other. But if the game is primarily Type A, should the part that is Type B really be required? Few people complain about optional minigames. It's the roadblock in the way of fun that blows.

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