Your most depised game "features"

Tyler Olsen · 2007-05-19T13:43:23

In this thread, post the features of games you've played that made you annoyed/angry and caused you to question why the hell the developers decided to put it in there in the first place. Feel free to use the little template I posted below. Quote: Game: Feature: Comments: Game: StarCraft Feature: Can only select 12 units at a time Comments: Seriously, WHY? Its so annoying when you want to send a large force to attack or defend. Its just a really annoying limitation that serves no purpose but to make the player micro manage more than they should have to.

Game Design and Theory Game Design

Started by Roots April 20, 2007 12:58 AM

141 comments, last by ukdeveloper 16 years, 11 months ago

Roots

1,626

Author

April 22, 2007 11:01 PM

Quote:Original post by SunTzu
Let me guess... you're a student? Or unemployed? Or otherwise have lots of free time? That's fine for you then, wish I was still a student, but I get, typically, about seven hours a week (one hour a day) to play computer games because I have a busy, busy life. The threat or danger of having to waste my precious time if I fail does not add suspense, or a fear of failure. Really, it doesn't. It adds frustration and annoyance and, very quickly, the result of me taking the game back to the shop for a refund.

Excuse me, but I take offense to your comment. I am 24 years old and I also have a busy life without much time for playing games. I do not wish to spend my time re-playing a game frequently either. Where you find frustration and annoyance, I find suspense and enjoyment. So lets just leave it at that and stop trying to frame me as someone who is ignorant of the needs and lives of others.

Quote:Original post by SunTzu
One design decision (save when you want, or at least have frequent save points) allows both of us to enjoy the game - you don't have to save at all, and if you want to go back more than one save point you can. The other design decision (can only save at certain widely spaced save points) only allows you to enjoy the game, as I won't enjoy having my valuable time wasted.

No, this design does not allow us both to enjoy it. The presence of those save points still gives me a warning that a tough fight is around the corner. I will use those save points as well; I'm not going to pass up save points like you are supposing I would just because I want to feel the fear of failure. If the save points are everywhere, it does nothing to help someone like me.

Quote:Original post by SunTzu
If, as a game designer, you make the choice based on what you like, not what other people might like, then the chances are very high you are not designing the the kinds of games I (for one) want to play.

Very well. I'm glad that 99.9999% of the Earth feels exactly the same as you do, while no one feels the same way I do. Do you realize how arrogant you sound here? It is impossible to design a game such that everyone who plays it will enjoy it to the upmost. You chose your audience, and you chose your features. You don't ignorantly try to design a game thinking everyone is going to like every decision you make.

Anyway, lets drop the save game talk and get back to the real discussion in this thread, shall we?

Hero of Allacrost - A free, open-source 2D RPG in development.
Latest release June, 2015 - GameDev annoucement

Way Walker

745

April 23, 2007 12:07 AM

Quote:Original post by Roots
Quote:Original post by SunTzu
One design decision (save when you want, or at least have frequent save points) allows both of us to enjoy the game - you don't have to save at all, and if you want to go back more than one save point you can. The other design decision (can only save at certain widely spaced save points) only allows you to enjoy the game, as I won't enjoy having my valuable time wasted.

No, this design does not allow us both to enjoy it. The presence of those save points still gives me a warning that a tough fight is around the corner. I will use those save points as well; I'm not going to pass up save points like you are supposing I would just because I want to feel the fear of failure. If the save points are everywhere, it does nothing to help someone like me.

Solution that fits everyone: make it one way of determining difficulty. Really, don't put in a hard, medium, easy, put in different variables to change and make one of them the number and placement of save points. Think of Fallout Tactics' "Ironman" mode where you can only save between missions.

Ahnfelt

176

April 23, 2007 09:48 AM

I agree. Make it part of the difficulcy. Limiting the number of save games based on difficulcy is a cheap, but effective way to implement this (Hitman 2 does it to great effect).

To stay on topic (and please, do!):

Game: Most
Feature: Anonymous music
Comments: Command & Conquer was the first game with recorded music (non-midi, non-mod) as far as I know. Most of the music was great, and some of it even became popular outside the game. Today has music that just blends in. Forgetable. I miss the memorable game music from games like Mario, Transport Tycoon Deluxe, Sonic...

Nathan Baum

1,027

April 23, 2007 10:05 AM

Quote:Original post by gharen2
Quote:Original post by Nathan Baum
Does it really? Are football games with realistic ball physics unfun? Were the physics-based puzzles in Half-Life 2 unfun? I think when you say "unfun" you really mean "different".

We aren't talking about football games or half life 2 here. That's entirely different. I'm talking about the challenge of keeping track of the physics of a spaceship in 3D space on a 2D screen. Most people don't find that very intuitive.

But throw in a top speed and suddenly it's perfectly intuitive? I can't help but think we mean entirely different things by "physics in space".

Quote:
Quote:Original post by Nathan Baum
That's why I propose we use a computer to do the physics calculations for us.

I see your point here, but I also think that kind of defeats the point.

That's too bad. I kinda like using computers when implementing computer games...

cdoty

736

April 23, 2007 11:04 AM

Quote:Original post by Xai
Why 12? Because of the number of pixels no the screen. The icons had to be sized as a balance between the number they can support, and the detail they can convey. They choose 12, because it was greater than or equal to the 4, 8, 10 and 12 limit which other RTS games with arbirtrary limits had, and yet allowed big enough icons to be usefull.

So, you mean the limit is 12 because they were too lazy or closed minded to find a better way to display the information?

It would make sense if 12 was a reasonable number for battles, but it isn't. That makes about as much sense as Microsoft (or any Linux desktop) only allowing 12 programs to show up in the start menu.

If you're selecting more than 12, maybe it's not as critical to know what each unit is. Easy answer, use increaingly smaller icons as the number of units increases.

Check out Super Play, the SNES inspired Game Engine: http://www.superplay.info

Sandman

2,211

April 23, 2007 11:39 AM

Quote:Original post by Nathan Baum
Quote:Original post by gharen2
We aren't talking about football games or half life 2 here. That's entirely different. I'm talking about the challenge of keeping track of the physics of a spaceship in 3D space on a 2D screen. Most people don't find that very intuitive.

But throw in a top speed and suddenly it's perfectly intuitive? I can't help but think we mean entirely different things by "physics in space".

I'm not quite sure what you mean, because I think gharen has a perfectly valid point.

The average bod expects spaceships to fly a bit like aeroplanes, banking on turns, moving in the direction they're pointing, being subject to drag etc. That is how spaceships fly on TV after all.

Of course, it is completely unrealistic, but then again so are lots of things in games. Space games shouldn't have any sound effects beyond what's happening in your own ship, for example. 'Real' space physics is somewhat alien to the average player, and it strikes me as a reasonable design choice for less 'hardcore' sims to opt for the less realistic, but more accessible aeroplane type physics.

Avatar God

1,072

April 23, 2007 11:47 AM

Design feature: Easy bosses.
Games: Dozens. Most recently, Zelda: Twilight Princess.
Comments: I want a challenge, and while I enjoy that I may have to figure out the mechanism for defeating a boss, I also want that mechanism to be more than a routine system of clicking. I want Krieger from FarCry, and I want Tartarus from Halo 2 (but on Legendary. He was way too easy on the other settings). Of course, I prefer that the game simply lets me choose the difficulty. If you give me difficulty settings, then the bosses simply cannot be too difficult on the top settings.

Game: Doom 3.
Design feature: Doom 3.
Comments: Seriously, why? (Kidding. Sort of.)

gsgraham.comSo, no, zebras are not causing hurricanes.

Avatar God

1,072

April 23, 2007 11:53 AM

Quote:Original post by Prinz Eugn
Actually for as fun a gae as BF2 is, the user interface on the whole is pretty damn bad.

I've never seen or tried to use a worse interface system than that in BF2 (hell, it's not like they improved it for 2142, either). You should hear me curse it...

I'll also second the call for fixing the incredibly difficult airpline/chopper steering with a keyboard, or even keyboard and mouse combo. It was hard enough in BF2, a little easier in BF2142, and downright impossible in GTA: San Andreas.

The airplane-style physics in outer space bothers me as well. My favorite part of Battlestar Galactica is the way the ships utilize 3D space and thrust to fight effectively - it's very cool, and I would love to see a space sim that wasn't based on a physics system that requires lift and air resistance.

gsgraham.comSo, no, zebras are not causing hurricanes.

dave

2,188

April 23, 2007 12:19 PM

Quote:Original post by Omid Ghavami
Game: Sims
Feature: Need x number of friends for promotion at work.
Comments: It takes away a lot of the fun, at least for me.

Yes.

-----

On a similar note to the save point just before a boss.

Game: Most FPSs
Feature: Giving you load of ammo and health just before a boss.
Comments: The game would be far more challenging if you were topped up nearer the start of the level. You would have to manage your resources more carefully.

-----

Game: Counterstrike Source
Feature: The bots on the top two levels of difficulty spotting you directly above them.
Comments: I can understand them spotting you when you are in their FOV but when you are directly above them??

-----

Game: Deus Ex 2
Feature: Eliminating lockpicks.
Comments: Alot of the fun in the first game was deciding whether to lockpick door A or multitool door B to get to a given area.

-----

Game: Deus Ex 2
Feature: Single ammo type for all weapons
Comments: I didn't like this. Granted it is a more futuristic game than the first, but FPS traditionally have different ammo for different weapons.

-----

Game: 99% of games
Feature: Gorgeous graphics, lack of replayability.
Comments: Admittedly alot of games are of the genre where the implementation of replayability is not necessarily needed. Gameplay is what keeps me playing, not graphics.

-----

Game: 99% of FPSs
Feature: Items in the same places every time. Passwords the same each time.
Comments: A small step towards replayability is having pick-up items in different places each time you start a new game. I also don't like it when you can remember the password for a door from the last time you played it. All passwords in a game that are yet to be discovered should be random each time you load the game (and yes i do mean load from a save, not when you start a new one).

-----

Game: Deus Ex
Feature: Lack of truely dificult setting.
Comments: It has the usual settings and a realistic setting, but even realistic is a piece of piss. How about reducing the amount of pickups so we have to scavange.

Dave

Sneftel

1,788

April 23, 2007 12:27 PM

Quote:Original post by Prinz Eugn
I haven't played any other game that actually had to pause while the menu loaded instead of just going directly there.

Could be worse. They could've had a "loading menu" cinematic to load.

Your most depised game "features"

This topic is closed to new replies.

Popular Topics

Recommended Tutorials

Your most depised game "features"

This topic is closed to new replies.

Popular Topics

Recommended Tutorials

Reticulating splines