Quote:Original post by Alan Kemp

Quote:Original post by TheOther
Some games claim 40-hours of play, 80 hours, etc.

How is this length determined?

Step 1: Look at a clock, remember (or write down) the time.
Step 2: Play the game all the way through
Step 3: Look at the clock again. Figure out how long its been since Step 1.

Alan

Half right. Now all you gotta do is have maybe 100-1000 people do that and you just take the average.

Since most people don't want to play an RPG in one sitting... make the game time itself!

P.S. You don't count; you can probably play through your RPG much faster than most people can. :)

What most designers do is set a 'length-of-gameplay goal' for each of the quests, maps, objectives, etc. In the end they add up all of the goals that form the primary storyline and there's your 'expected' gameplay time.

For example, suppose you're making a platformer. What you might do is say every one of your levels will take 20 minutes to complete for an average player, and you want around 30 levels. 20 mins * 30 = 10 hours of gameplay. It is then up to your designers to make levels that'll adhere to this restriction, and draw exceptions where necessary.

For an RPG you'd do the same thing, except you'd add the quests of the main storyline together. Since you have a mix of quests of varying lengths, the lengths might planned out ahead of time and the designers adhere to those restrictions.

Most games know ahead of time how much gameplay they're aiming for in terms of time. It helps clear up the schedule and avoids any suprises :) Of course, like everything, the length-of-gameplay may change during development but it's usually accounted for.

By the time the game is shipped the developers have a rough idea how long the game will take to complete for the average player.

Your idea of the pick and choose RPG isnt too bad, what you could do is have each one contain an entire story in and of itself and elements of some grander quest line. That way each game is a complete story but also allude to parts of the greater quest.

Quote:Original post by Ekim_Gram

Quote:Original post by Alan Kemp

Quote:Original post by TheOther
Some games claim 40-hours of play, 80 hours, etc.

How is this length determined?

Step 1: Look at a clock, remember (or write down) the time.
Step 2: Play the game all the way through
Step 3: Look at the clock again. Figure out how long its been since Step 1.

Alan

Half right. Now all you gotta do is have maybe 100-1000 people do that and you just take the average.

I would say that the game play is the shortest amount of time in which the game can be beaten...