recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Blocks of Text to Convey Important Information - The Player Likely Won’t Read

Letters, books, scraps of paper and everything in between can add a lot to the player experience. If done correctly, it can provide the opportunity for the player to learn more about the world they inhabit, the characters within it, or even to supplement the existing story. However, when key elements of the story are buried within blocks of text, you run the risk of the player missing out on critical components of the game.

Take *Amnesia*, for example. This intense horror game hinges on the player reading in order to progress plot. And while, for the most part, it succeeds in creating digestible and intriguing text, there are moments in the game where you will find yourself face to face with a four page letter. For some players it will come naturally to sit and read through the narrative. However, when faced with this length of story, especially during an adrenaline-pumping game, many will either skim through the information or disregard it all together, missing key details about what is happening in the plot.
Campaign allows easy way past difficult situations.

Campaign allows easy way past difficult situations.

Many games will have varying difficulties for the campaign. The best ones also offer ways for the players to get the story without having to be skilled at playing the game. An immersive experience can be broken if a player is trying to jump across a gap over and over again and constantly dying. If the player is able to skip this part or get help in figuring it out they can continue with their story.

Titan Fall 2

Many levels require specific jump sequences that can be difficult for novice players. The game scans the environment if a player is hesitating to long and offers a solution to the jump paths. If after a few times even then of missing the platforms the game will move you on to the closest platform the player almost got to. This allows the story to be completed and still allow a challenging experience for those that want it.
Good Game Snack - Player involvement is always better than time walls

In Metal Gear Solid: Tactical Espionage The player has access to knowledge of the suppressor being under the truck in the helipad on the base situated in Shadow Moses. The player can then actively exploit that knowledge to gain an advantage in overall gameplay. It is directly through the players own actions and knowledge which grants progression.

In Metal Gear Solid the Phantom Pain, the player has the option to build a base and participate in an economy that directly relates to the development of new equipment such as weapons, gear and resources. Though the player is required to gain currency by participating in-onine events that present time walls before the player can collect or be rewarded for completing the mission. Time walls halt player progression and causes a huge disconnect from gameplay, ceasing player progression.

Having the player be actively involved in game play is the core corner stone of gaming, removing the player from that causes the process of game play to be remote and uninvolved.
Ambiguous Item Functionality Confuses and Frustrates Players

When a game provides items and does not ensure players understand their purpose, designers should expect player confusion and frustration. Although ambiguity can be used intentionally to intrigue or surprise players, this same ambiguity in rogue-like settings with an abundance of distinct items can more often create negative feelings. If you wish to avoid the negativity associated with this ambiguous functionality, clarify each items purpose

### **The Binding Of Isaac: Rebirth**

In The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, you roam in a dungeon-crawling rogue-like collecting upgrades with frustratingly ambiguous detail. In this clip above, you'll see the player encounter a pill, which could either help or harm him. Because he is at low health and already close to death, he decides to take the risk. However, when he encounters another item on the ground, he finds he can only push it around and cannot even collect it. This forces him to stop gameplay, inspect his inventory, question why he cannot collect it, and eventually abandon this item altogether. Although this experience was not overtly negative, it was almost certainly not something the game designers wanted him to experience and left this player unresolved. Clarify the purpose of items in your game to eliminate confusion and player frustration.

## Example 2: Rampage Knights

In *Rampage Knights,* there are a lot ambiguous items and objects. Like a power-up called holy banana, which rise player’s maximum health, but also have a hidden effect that makes players drop banana skin when they attack. This banana skin cause players slip and fall if they step on it, which can be fatal on some terrain. it often cause player fall off the cliff and suddenly lose the game, and this may cause some frustration.

### Example 3: Starbound

In Starbound, the player is given a tool, which is able to break down and build certain objects. How this tool is used, however, isn't explained to the player, which can lead to the player being frustrated at what can or cannot be built by the tool. Some staged gameplay, or some kind of tutorial would help the player recognize the types of things that the tool can be used for.
Careful font design adds to thematic cohesion and gameplay

The importance of font selection has long been understood in the realm of graphic and visual design. Its use in game design is just as important, and can help sell the theme of the game and even inform players on gameplay. For example, a grungy, asymmetrical font used in a horror game informs players that the game itself is going to be messy, unpredictable and even disturbing. The choice of font is especially important in marketing the game and in the way in which box art, promotional materials, and title and menu screens in the game itself are designed. The same font that is used for the horror game would be terribly out of place in a farming simulator game. Ray Larabie, a font designer who has worked on games including *Grand Theft Auto* and *Red Dead Redemption* gives further insight into the importance of font design in video games in an interview found here.

## Examples

### **Mass Effect**

The font in *Mass Effect* tells players a lot about the game, particularly the design of the font used in its main title screen. It indicates that it is a more serious game with its clean, straightforward design. Its futuristic style and arcing line through the word "Mass" speaks to the science fiction genre and setting of the game.

**Mirror's Edge:**

The typeface in Mirror's Edge is clean and crisp. This language continues throughout the level design as well. Cityscape is a psudo-futuristic environment. Most of the building are a stark clean white with hard edges. The level design informs the typeface. Being that this is what the player first sees when looking at the box the player can also be informed as to what the game might hold.
Full Simulation in a Game – makes the game more realistic

Many simulation games only emulate objects in small-scale. However, from players’ perspective, a full simulation would be better if they want to immerse the game totally. For example, in NBA Game series, game developers only consider how avatars play basketball in a game. We know in a real NBA game there are more factors such as audience’s boo cloud affect players' performance.

   **Example 1:**

SimCity 4 is a simulation game that game designer do a great consideration in the simulation. The main purpose of players is to build their city by themselves. Players can focus on building a single city (small-scale simulation), or they can build many cities and make them interact together (full-scale simulation). For example, players can create a green city which must buy water resource or electric power from another city. These interactions between cities make the game more realistic, and players can have more chance to think how to player the game.
Allowing Players to Play Optional ‘In-World’ Mini-games helps with Immersion

In large, open world games, placing mini-games in the form of card games, casino games, etc., can help make the world feel authentic. These also can help designers and writers add points of interest for character development in a realistic way, as it is easy to mention in dialogue and the have the player understand.

**Examples:**

Final Fantasy VIII

While numerous games in the Final Fantasy series do this, none are quite remembered as Triple Triad. The minigame is a card game where you fight an opponent for board control. Simple and addictive, the game gives incentives playing it by adding in a set of side quests linked directly to it, and the characters within the world often make reference to it.
Changing Character Perspective - Allows the Player to Explore a Different Side to the Story

Having the player shift character roles over the course of the game, or for even only a part of the play experience, can allow them to explore new abilities as well as different aspects of gameplay / story that it would not have otherwise made sense for them to see.

One example of many would be in the case of Telltale's *Tales From the Borderlands* which utilizes perspective change in order to build character relationships, show another side to the same story (creating a sense of depth and voice), as well as playing with new mechanics based upon the character being played.

Another example is *Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep,* where the player is given three shorter stories to play instead of one long one, that all intertwine. Each of the three characters plays differently, with different strengths, and different mobility skills.

### Example: Eternal Darkness

In the game Eternal Darkness, the player gets to navigate several locations as 12 different people. The main character, Alexandra is trying to discover some secrets in her family's past and this is done literally as she is put in their shoes and plays as them. It's a much better way to tell each character's story than just text or cut scene.
Allow players to choose their level of social involvement.

Multiplayer games have something of a bad rap when it comes to social interactions. Many players experience griefing or harassment from opponents or even allies, and that can damage the play experience. Good online games allow players to mitigate these kinds of events by allowing players to filter chat content, mute individuals, create block lists, or even turn off chat functions completely.

 Heroes of the Storm is a good example of this, as players are given full control over their chat experience.
Creating a Rich Audio Environment

Game worlds are not static. Any environment, whether exterior or interior, conveys personality and life through more than just visual aesthetic. Audio is used to enrich the play space to give a player purpose in the world, to convey that they are a "living" person in a "living" world. This is done through visuals along with audio effects, soundtracks, and foley effects.

 Examples

### Overwatch

Overwatch's level audio design is top notch, with the environment adding to the dynamic audio coming from actual gameplay. You can distinctly hear the movements of characters coming from different surface materials, sound effects properly heard from a distance, and 5.1/7.1 surround sound audio greatly enhances the experience
Character outfits

Clothing that change and reflect what the player is
wearing in game is important. Clothing that changes can be a powerful tool to
immerse players into their character and environment. Being able to see your
hard earn legendary gear display on your character is a badge of honor to many players.
A lot of players enjoy dressing up there character. This is especially true in
MMOs where players is trying to set themselves apart from other players. Most
people nowadays expects to see changes to their character when they switch out their
armor.

## Examples

A great example of this is “*World of Warcraft*”. In *Warcraft*
most of the gears you get will change the looks of your characters. People love
matching armor sets to create that unique look and will spend hours to get it
perfect.

Example 2:

Overwatch developers did a super great job on the design of the characters and characters' outfits. If we look around the details of characters' armors, weapons and the look of the characters. We would see that every single part of them is perfectly matched with the characters' abilities.

Example 3:

The league of legends did a really good job on character outfits design. Each character's outfit is well designed. It makes players want to play the game just because of the outfits.

### Example 4: Guild Wars 2

Guild Wars 2, have some really beautifully crafted and designed character outfits and they even allow players to use outfits from some of the most popular characters within the game.

Example 5: assassin's creed

Character outfits in Assassin's Creed has a pretty unique outfit style where most of the characters are wearing a cape. It leaves players a very memorizable impression to the extent that they would recognize the game is Assassin's Creed by only seeing the character outfits.

Example 6: Steep

Steep is an extreme sports game where players can ride the mountains with snowboard, ski, parachute, etc. The most fun part about this game is the full customizable characters. Players can place wide range of attachments, wear different cloth, outfits on their characters. Even the equipment like snowboard, ski and parachute, it has a variety of skins for players to unlock.
Advertising popping out in the wrong time, place or amount.

When the player is in the urge of winning, ads pops and makes him/her lose or click on it accidentally and it drives the player somewhere else. The player can get frustrated and even angry since him/her did not mean to click on it or because he/she lost the game due a bad timing advertising. Of course ads are an important way to our financial plan (mainly while dealing with mobile games) but making them optional to gather in-game resources can be a brilliant solution. Or at least be careful about where and when show them.

**Example 01** (author's): **Phase 10** free version had so many unfortunate ads that players mostly lost the round when ads popped in-game.

**Example 2:** Stretch Dungeon

I've been playing this game for a while now, but I have yet to learn how not to hit the advertisement that always pops up on start up. The game's main screen prompts the player to tap and hold the screen. However, after a second or two, an advertisement pops up over top of the button that the user was prompted to press. I somehow manage to fall for it every time, instead of waiting for the advertisement to pop up and then exit out of it before tapping the screen.
Game Releases Through Episodes: Gives the player something to look forward to

Releasing content in the form of episodes can be very beneficial from a game design perspective and exciting for the player.Instead of releasing the entire game at once, having multiple episodes can create a sense of eagerness for players. Players can play through a single episode, which could be a few hours worth of content, and excitement can be built for future episode releases. This can be an excellent way to continue marketing a game as well. From a game design standpoint, this gives the developers some extra time to further develop content in the unreleased episodes. This also allows the designers to receive feedback from the released episodes, benefiting the development and iteration on future episodes. This design choice emphasizes player feedback, increases marketing opportunities, and builds excitement for the player base.

## Examples

The Walking Dead: Season 1

The Walking Dead by Telltale Games does a superb job of creating this release flow for the players. The designers were able to release a two hour episode, receive feedback on what players thought about the overall design and story flow, and then adjust design choices for future episodes based on the feedback. The Walking Dead community also grew very excited before new episodes were release, and this benefited the developers because the press picked up on the hype, creating more curiosity and appeal in the gaming community. Releasing episodes allowed Telltale Games to get an idea of how popular specific episodes were and iterate upon the feedback.
Customizable Controls - Makes Games More Accessible

Some games allow the players the choose controls or even disable button mashing in games. This is more common in PC games, but less common on consoles. The ability makes games accessible to people with disabilities who can’t reach a certain button or mash a button repeatedly. For Example, *Uncharted 4* has an option to hold down a button instead of hitting it repeatedly. This was in response to one of their players who could not finish *Uncharted 2* because his disability that slowed his reflexes. The option to turn off that feature in *Uncharted* 4 made the game playable for him. It shows that allowing something as simple as changing a few buttons in the control scheme can make a game more accessible.

## Examples

**League of Legends**

League of Legends was a MOBA game whose designs originated from DOTA. But it really made great refinements from DOTA. One of them is that LOL customize players' input. In DOTA, different champions use different keys for their skills. It was considered as a champions' feature but it is really unfriendly to players. The customizable controls plays an important role in reducing the difficulties in control for players, which helps them a lot in attracting new players.
Content Locked Behind Grind-based Activities

Many Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games(MMORPGs) follow a common trend, which started out with the Korean based MMORPGs in which most of the interesting or enjoyable content was locked behind an activity which would require user to put in huge amount of time i.e basically a grind based activity. Games which implement such a design where player has to grind for a long duration of time just to have fun and enjoy a particular game content, is not a good design.

## Examples

### Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns

Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns is an expansion to Guild Wars 2 and was released in 2015, this expansion had introduced several new features and various content across the game including a new feature called "Mastery System" but in order for players to make use of the mastery system, they would have to grind insane amount of experience points to do so, which could take up to days worth of grind only to access some of the basic mastery.
Indicating the route to the mission area in RPGs helps players save a lot of time

Generally, in RPGs, especially in those which are set up in an open world, players are often required to reach a variety of places to complete the missions. In the old RPG games, there is usually not a pathfinding system to help players find the nearest way to the target area. Sometimes player need to find the path themselves, which may waste them a lot of time. Even sometimes player will get annoyed because they spend a lot of time on it. However, in nowadays RPGs, with the popularity of the open world and multiple missions, designers realize the importance of the route indicator. Indicating the route to the mission area on the mini map can not only save players' time for finding the path, but also it can help players to get familiar with the current mission status in a short time.

## Example

1. The Witcher 3:

In The Witcher 3, whenever players activate a mission, there will be a route indicator on the mini map. So in this way, players can easily know how to reach the mission area without finding the path by themselves. Additionally, sometimes there will be several layers at an location. Then there will also be a small arrow indicating that the area is above the player or under the player. it's really convenient design for players.
Easy tutorial AI fails to train the players

Some games allow players to play against AI to practice before playing with other people. However, for some games, AI are too easy compared with real persons. After gaining confidence by practicing with AI, beginners will feel extremely frustrated when jump into the combats against real players, which lower their motivation to play.

**Counter-Strike: Global Offensive**

CS:GO has AI with four levels of difficulty, easy, medium, hard, and expert. Beginners can choose which levels of difficulty they want to practice with. However, the AI are so dumb that even the expert BOTs are way easier than the players in the lowest rank. Players with no experience in competitive FPS game would easily freak out by actual players and not play the game anymore. The AI are not smart enough to train the players.
Avoid meaningless player scoring - enhance player experience

Scores in games help to evaluate players based on what the creator thinks is important in the game. This is like sending a message to the player. This means that player should be able to understand which actions are desirable through higher scores and vice versa. They also come in handy when a player wants to compare its own performance at different times or its performance with respect to others. Thus, game scores should be meaningful for the player and scoring which frustrates the players should be avoided.

**StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty**

This is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed and released by Blizzard Entertainment for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. A few players are confused by a very small scoring misunderstanding. They expect that average unspent resources should count against player score. A player could have higher resource collection rate and higher working count, both of which would be better, but still lose in total resource score if unspent resource is higher. Differences in understanding this scoring mechanism and ending up with different player score than expected should be avoided as it might agonize the player.
Draw on the screen to perform skills .. Sometimes destroy/compromise the game experience just for a new 'feature'

In some games to make game experience more diversified players sometimes need to draw some patterns on the screen to cast a magic or a skill. But in some games, this feature is not so fit into the core systems. In some action games, player expect a simple set of game verbs to perform multiple game actions to make them win the intense combats, not to make the game input more 'assorted'. The develop team adds it just because they want to show some new features of the certain game platform.

## Example

**Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow** is a action-adventure game that falls under the famous Castlevania series. In this game, it introduces a new system called Magic Seal. When fight against might demons, players need to quickly draw a pattern on the screen to truly defeat them. This system however, made many players frustrated because they need to get themselves out of the flow and hurry to draw some complicated patterns on the screen. If they fail, the game is over and they have to restart the fight. Also the pattern system itself has many flaws.
Excessive Use of Tutorials and Explanation of Goals Ruins Experience for Long Time Fans

While tutorials are helpful for new players to get into a game, occasionally, games can get to the point where it is too much. In an attempt to get a larger amount of newer players, certain games add in too much tutorial and hand holding to the point where it alienates their larger audience, the players returning to the series. This is usually paired with unskippable tutorials and tends to make veteran players feel infantilized and annoyed with the pacing of the game.

**Examples:**

Pokemon Sun and Moon

The newest games in the Pokemon series spend about the first two hours of gameplay constantly interrupting the player to give them a tutorial, then proceed to tell them their short term goal numerous times, including a constant blurb on the lower DS screen reminding them what it is. While this lessens later on, it never gets to a point where it stops. This shift in gameplay flow makes it extremely difficult for some veteran players to get through these parts of the game, as the older games in the series kept most tutorials brief.
Combining different modes of controls ineffectively distracts/confuses the gameplay.

In some games, the player has to use two different modes of controls to play the game. Some part of the game has to be played with one controller and the another part of game has to be played with the other control. This switch in the controls confuses the player and also compromises the gameplay.

Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor is a video game published by "Capcom" for the Xbox-360. The gameplay takes place inside a tank like a bipedal robot, known as a vertical tank. The player has to complete the given tasks of missions, which include destroying set targets, clearing areas of enemies or providing defense for military units. The player should always be alert so that he or she can stop the attack on crew members from enemies. The player can also replace the killed crew members with other team members.

The game uses Kinect software, which coordinates the player's movements to their actions in the match and xbox controller execute commands. However, the limited control of the Kinect software combined with commands on xbox controller let to un-precise movements in the game. Thus due to erratic and unresponsive controls in-game led to the game being nearly unplayable.

**Example 2:**

**Resident Evil 5**

Resident Evil tried to do create a game that used both the kinect software and the traditional controller. The result was a game that felt very disjointed and gimmicky. The kinect function didn't feel like a necessity to the gameplay, and therefore felt like a ploy to get players to purchase more kinect platforms. At different points in the game, with out warning, the game would expect the player to change controls usually leading to the player dying. It became burdensome and unenjoyable.
Good Game Snack-Character Design "Wholeness"

Character design wholeness reflects the uniqueness of a characters abilities and allows the character to function both technically and mechanically. The character is not restricted by any sort of power-up because they inherently posses unique attributes that grant the character an empowering ability. The player in theory should be able to succeed without any additional power-ups or leveling because everything required is pre-built into the initial design of the character. This transcend genres, and is essentially the difference between driving a model around versus a uniquely designed character.

A good example of character design wholeness is The Doom Slayer (Doom 2016) Abe (OddWorld), Mrs.Pac-Man, and Dixie Kong. These characters have attributes which allow the player to excel because their design is innate.

A bad example of character design wholeness is Subject Delta (Bioshock 2), Master Chief, Link, Snake/Big Boss, Jill (Resident Evil).What are supposedly unique charger types are essentially grounded as re-skinned models that the player simply controls. There is nothing unique about the design of these characters as a whole.
Hindrance of Attack Ability to Serve the Theme

There are many things that contribute to a game's aesthetic (here meaning how a game makes one feel), such as setting, art style, pacing, narrative, core mechanic, method of attack/defense, and much more. One that sticks out as being particularly successful at generating mood and ambience, however, is the latter of the listed examples - how one attacks enemies and defends themselves within the virtual world. How a player interacts with and exists inside a game, especially in ones where danger is ever-prevalent, generates a frame of reference for the player to refer back to. If the player is strong enough to defeat enemies in a few blows, they won't feel a twinge of apprehension upon facing them. Make the encounter a decision that could mean game over, however, and the space changes drastically (even if it is visually identical). One must also think about the design related to how clunky or smooth the controls are for engaging in combat. Good implementation of a control scheme specific to the mood one is trying to convey can amplify the player's immersion into the game.

**Example: Silent Hill 2**

In this game, the player has very limited attack capability. The monsters that inhabit the space are already visually repulsive, but the fact that a few bullets or a lead pipe is all that stands between the player and a staggering beast with its arms fused to its torso creates a frantic layer atop the eerie setting. Coupled with this is the fact that the controls pretty much suck. Taking a few steps forward, turning around, aiming a gun, and shooting do not take place in a matter of seconds within Silent Hill. The movements of one's avatar (James Sunderland) onscreen feel painfully slow as they navigate through tight corridors, around horrific creatures, and into the next room. But it works out for the best, as this not only complements the theme but also generates a deep sense of reward in the player when the controls are finally mastered. Flow is achieved as the rythm of James' movements become commited to muscle memory, and the boss is finally slain. The player experiences a deep sense of accomplishment for a victory well-earned, and feels as if they really have a good grip on the main character whose life they occupy. SPOILERS: (Which, for those in the know, makes the ending all the more jarring.)
Constant Change of Visual Language Hinders Strategy

All games require some form of indication to the player as to what is happening in the game space in regard to the rules of play. In chess, for example, a player is given a clear indication of what pieces they are allowed to move via contrasting colors (black or white), as well as how they are meant to move their pieces via shape (various piece types such as pawn or knight). These clear, visual communications allow the player to better visualize a proper strategy. If the game were to change these established communications, the player could easily become confused and frustrated as they now must continually work through their strategy with the added step of accommodating shifts in dynamic. Instead, designers might consider adding a separate visual cue in order to convey to the player that a certain portion of gameplay is now adopting a new rule structure. Instead of delineating only two groups (white or black) in which a game piece must belong, it may be advantageous to allow for more (gray) in the case of rule shifts.

**Examples**

**Othello**

In the game of Othello only two game pieces exist: white and black. Both are identical in how they function, they're only distinction being which player is controlling them. This game is played by using one's pieces to encase an opponent's pieces on two opposite sides, causing the encased piece to swap colors and become one's own. This ever-prevalent color change causes players to easily lose sight of any broader strategies they wish to implement.
Engage your players through social media and email to keep them up to date.

The days of games launching without updates are over. Developers are creating new content for games that have already been released more and more often, usually in the form of DLC or free content updates. This is done to enhance the play experience and retain player-base. However, games are constantly in competition with a deluge of media competition, and players can often loose track of these periodic content releases in games they may have bought and enjoyed previously. By collecting social media and email account information (with players' permission, of course), you can keep your players aware of new content releases and patch info.

Witcher 3 did a fantastic job of this. If you purchased the game through the developer's online storefront (gog.com), you were given an email reminder of the free DLC available to you.
Inconsistent AI difficulty - Either leads player to frustration or boredom

## **Overall Description**

AI is always a critical aspect of games, either single player or multiplayer. That does not mean the game would be good with AI in it. The bottom line, however, is to maintain the consistency of the AI difficulty. Inconsistent and unbalanced AI difficulty setting would significantly lower the motivation for players to play again. If enemy AI is way smarter than friendly AI, this game will lead players to frustration; if friendly AI is way smarter than enemy AI, this game will lead players to boredom.

## **Example for Demonstration**

### *Takedown: Red Sabre*

There is an extreme unbalance in this game in terms of AI difficulty. It seems that the developer never found (or tried to find) the balance point for their AI. The intelligence of AI is either too low or too high.

The next paragraph is cited from a Steam review for this game.

"Many have said this game is hard, it's not hard, it's entertainingly broken. A friend and I were laughing at how absolutely insane the AI is for the enemy. They are either dumb as rocks or have the reaction time of The Flash. He and I are both good CSGO badge players, I grew up on shooters and it is literally impossible to get past some of these levels because you will get insta killed the second you open a door or round a corner."
How the uncanny valley can destroy amazing graphics

The uncanny valley is a concept in aesthetic design that is as follows; As an object is given more and more human features, people develop an affinity to that character (consider Pixar's Cars or the object characters in Banjo Kazooie). As the characters become even more human they are stylized humanoid characters and people connect with them even more (Mario, Megaman etc). However before perfect photo-realism graphics are achieved there is a significant drop and people are repelled by the likeness. As the theory goes, humans are extremely good at identifying faces and if there is a slight difference, it stands out and destroys the entire illusion. This concept is illustrated perfectly in Figure 1. It should also be noted that this is only amplified by movement in animation and video games. When considering an aesthetic, a developing studio should think hard about which side of the uncanny valley they want their game to sit on.

### Example 1: LA Noire

LA Noire used MotionScan technology to scan in the faces of real actors to play the parts of the characters in the game. During cut scenes this resulted in amazingly realistic graphics for 2011. However when focused on during the interrogation scenes and particularly when combined with stiff unnatural body movement, the game lands perfectly in the uncanny valley. These animations pull the player completely from the immersive experience and can even creep them out at times.

### Example 2: Heavy Rain

The facial animations in this game were advanced for the time, but the character models look clunky and unnatural in certain scenes. This results in awkward scenes that look forced or unnatural. Rather than looking as though the characters are kissing, it seems as if they simply smashing thier faces together, and a scene that's supposed to be serious in tone comes off as awkward parody.
Game designs that force the player to think strategically

A game design that allows for its players to think about their approach to the game with a strategic perspective is more fulfilling and entertaining for the player. The design is created in that specific mechanics of the game are positioned to be more effective or less effective against other mechanics with in the game. Therefore, the player is left to study the different mechanics of the game in order to make the proper decisions about how to approach the game. In competitive player vs player games this creates a flow similar to chess. Players must approach the game with a deeper understanding of the mechanics of the game than their opponent, and then out perform their opponent in their different approaches. Different game designs can choose to speed up or slow down the game in order to force its players to think faster or slower during the game.

Very few games are more productive at achieving this style of game design than Starcraft is. Players are forced to create different strategies in an attempt to out maneuver their opponent to win the game. The game is infinitely enjoyable because no two plays are exactly the same.
Allow Players to Customize Difficulty

In most games difficulty is split into a tiered system. In some games (usually smaller experiences) difficulty is not changeable at all. And in a select few games the player has the ability to change the difficulty in their favor. The point of a game is for people to play it, and by allowing players to customize the difficulty of the game, developers are allowing gamers to play the way they want. This extra freedom, especially in large games, is welcomed by players as it allows them to "find the fun" among aspects of the game other than difficulty-based challenges.

## Examples:

***Ark: Survival Evolved***: One of Ark's most distinguishing and horribly infuriating-features is a character's various survival meters - health, food, water, oxygen, heat, fatigue, weight... it goes on. The basic game mode for Ark makes gameplay centered around the player spending hours trying to survive rather than upgrading their character's abilities, crafting new tools and structures, hunting large or dangerous game, etc. Before a player begins a game they have the ability to adjust the rate at which the character's survival-meters deplete. This means that for players (such as myself) who don't find survival fun, but instead find crafting and character-building to be the most enjoyable part of the experience, we can spend more time on those latter elements instead of the former - making the game's sense of fun more tailored to the player.
Being able to witness characters' growth in sequels of a game - Adds to player's emotional experience

It is always satisfying to see the character you have played to grow with you, especially the characters that you haven't seen in a long time. It makes players feel involved in the life of the fictional character. You feel the emotions they feel, and you experience their growth as you grow. It actually reminds players the time they enjoyed playing the previous games and create a nostalgia atmosphere very early on.

## Examples

### **Uncharted 4 A Thief's End**

When I played Uncharted 4, I immediately had the feeling about "how time flies" the moment I saw Nathan's face. Then in the cut scene where he and Elena eat dinner at home, I remembered the adventures they both shared and the times they fought for each other. These feelings made me addicted to the game hopelessly. There are details that reminds me of their time throughout the whole game.

### Telltale's The Walking Dead

Telltale is dedicated to make sure that the decisions you take in their game have meaningful consequences. In their Walking Dead series of games, the decisions the player takes has a direct affect on the characters' emotional growth. You can even carry over your save between the sequels to see how your previous decisions affect the current game. In addition to the well developed story and character's, this ability to not only see but affect a character's growth is what makes this game special.

   **Mass Effect 2**

Mass Effect is excellent at showing the progression of characters over the course of different games. The fi

rst ttrilogy shows characters progressing throughout all three games, changing their roles and motivations in the context of the larger universe. An excellent example is Liara T'Soni, who is a member of the player character's squad in the first game. A young, naive researcher, Shepard takes her on a whirlwind tour of the galaxy, discovering ancient tech and stopping nefarious plots. But Shepard goes missing, presumed dead at the start of the second game - and when Shepard finds their way back to Liara, the naive girl is a devious information broker, entirely unwilling to rejoin Shepard's adventures. If anything she treats Shepard coldly, scarred by events Shepard wasn't there for, and perhaps hurt by the abandonment of her commander. This nuanced response and change in relationship adds to the depth of the character, and makes her feel like a being independent of the player.
Basing a Game Around Choice (When it Doesn't Matter) Disillusions the Player

Player choice, whether it comes to events or dialogue within the game, can truly enhance the experience, creating a deeper sense of character and the world that they inhabit. However, some games try to create the illusion of choice, and do so unsuccessfully, leaving the player feeling cheated, or perhaps disconnecting them from the experience before they are even really able to get into it in the first place. Take, for example, *Beyond Two Souls*.

During Beyond, the player is bombarded with all kinds of choice. Things to say, things to do, locations to hurry off to. However, it matters very little, if at all,

what the player chooses, the results only being in their head. It isn't until the very end of the game that the user is even given options with impact, and by then the words have already lost their weight and the choice tends to just feel hollow.
Ignoring The Narrative - Takes The Player Out Of Immersion

Good story telling is very important in modern games; it has become so ingrained into game development nowadays that some games are just the story with bare bones gameplay. If a game designer ignores the narrative either by under developing the story or not executing the method of story telling properly (bad script/bad voice over work/poor cutscene design), more often than not it is going to be a disaster. The narrative may be given less priority because of time constraints or because the designer just doesn't believe that they need to dedicate time and effort in telling the story; whatever the reason may be, bad narrative = bad experience. The player is going to be taken out of the game playing experience every time they have to sit through a badly executed attempt at storytelling.

### Example

#### House Of The Dead

House of the dead is an on rail shooter released in 1996 on the arcade and 1998 on PC. This game had such bad dialogue and voice acting, it was almost on par with that awful second Mortal Combat movie. The gun play was solid but every time anyone said anything I was instantly snapped out of zombie killing mode. It was almost comical the way the dialogue was delivered and with such cheesy dialogue; it was a complete disconnect from the serious nature of the gameplay.

   I remember fighting through hordes of zombies and meeting the mad scientist who caused the whole thing. I could not take him seriously because of his stupid voice. Luckily he got killed within the next 2 minutes by the final boss so I didn't have to listen to his inane ramblings.

You can check out the game here.
"Violence is not the only way!" Letting player take the pacifist route.

Hundreds of brutal violent games expect their player to kill npcs, blow them up, punch them till they bleed to death, etc. At the end of every level only the number of enemies you killed matters.

But some games, even the most brutal ones allow there players to take the pacifist route and not kill a single npc. Players can complete the whole game without having to raise their sword or point their gun at someone. I think this is a good and a smart design and attracts a whole new bunch of audience for example the people who don't like killing or bloodshed and also the players who like to be as sneaky as possible when they play. Also it promotes replayability, as the existing players of the game can complete the game in a non-violent way.

These games even give extra points for not killing anyone and not being seen by anyone when player completes the level in a nonviolent and a sneaky way.

Thief is one of those games where you can complete the whole game without claiming a life. The protagonist Garrett is a thief, not a cold-blooded killer. The player gets awarded with a "Ghost rank" for being non violent and sneaky. Even the bosses have non-lethal options, allowing you to sneak out of a battle instead of fighting to the bitter end.
Diegetic Interfaces for Immersive Experiences

Traditional interfaces in games communicate necessary information to the player. Although this tends to be the norm, these interfaces become disruptive if a feeling of immersion is trying to be achieved by the designer. However, using diegetic interface designs allows the interface to be integrated in a way that feels seamless to the game experience. These types of interfaces don't pop-up on the screen nor do they clutter it but they become a part of the game world itself. They give the impression that they are useful not only to the player but to the in-game characters.

## **Demonstrating Examples**

**Dead Space**

In Dead Space, the health bar of the player is integrated on the spine of their character's suit. This technique makes the game feel more immersive as the health bar is a part of the game world and their character is attached to it. This design choice works in Dead Space because the player has to adjust their camera sometimes in high stress moments to keep track of their health.

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**Far Cry 4**

Diegetic interface is also used frequently in Far Cry 4

When the health of player becomes low, the screen starts pumping red. 3/4th of the screen has red blood like splatter on it. This design element indicates that the health of the player is critically low and he needs to regain his health back or he dies vey soon. The voices and sound around becomes muffled too after this effect is seen. This is shown in the below following screenshot.

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**Alien: Isolation**

The player uses a motion-tracking device to watch the movement of the alien. Rather than add a minimap like many games, the designers chose to show that information only when the item was in use by the player, which also served to ratchet up tension when players would equip other items as-needed.

**Journey**

In Journey, there is no player health bar or any resource UI. However, you do have a resource that you spend in order to fly through the air. This resource is represented through the player characters scarf with the shiny pattern representing how much of the resource you currently have. The length of the scarf itself is used to show how much of the resource the player can have at any given time.
Disconnection between core mechanics and visual feedback can cause loss of immersion and dissatisfaction

Visual feedback is significant in gameplay to reinforce story and rules. Designers should always remember to correctly reflect the gameplay visually to the player. When the visualization incorrectly/fails to deliver the feedback from the gameplay, it disconnects the player from the story and gaming experience. This can often result in a loss of immersion and dissatisfaction of gameplay.

## Examples

Journey final credit disconnection

In the final scene of Journey after the player reaches to the top of the mountain, a star can be seen shooting out from the tip of the mountain, and travels back to the starting area through the sky of the levels. However, no matter if the player finishes the game alone or with a partner, the cutscene is the same. This causes a disconnection between the experience of multiplayer and visual feedback when pairing is one of the unique and most important mechanics, and leaves the player wondering what happens to their partner. This could be avoided, when the player finishes in a pair, by having two stars in the beginning and separate them half way through, which can also be a reflection of the gameplay when the partner joins in the middle of the game.