Quick suggestion - when collecting clues, [s]diffusing[/s] defusing bombs, rather than sticking with a simple shrinking bar, allow the players to "solve" it themselves via a small minigame, with the option to skip the minigame if they choose to. Solving it manually would give the team a slight reward bonus compared to auto-solving, thus making the glowies more engaging. The "skip minigame" option should still be there, so as not to lock out players who might lack the mental or physical dexterity to do so routinely, and prevent the system from becoming an exercise in frustration.
Mon, 11/04/2013 - 09:21
#1
Fun and minigames
Star Trek Online is a good example of taking "chores" that happen a lot (scanning anomalies for data samples, mining dilithium, taking sensor readings to make radiation reports, etc.) because they're one of the core mechanics of the game, and turning them into minigames.
Anomaly Scanning happens on the ground and in space, and originally it was just a progress bar. Hit the scan button on your keyboard, wait 6 seconds, be given your reward. No interaction, no nothing, but a boring wait, and it WAS boring because it was automatic. There was no interaction, so there was no reason to "fail" other than use of a malicious Random Number Generator.
Then Cryptic instituted the current mini-game system and they've been using it ever since. So now when you scan an anomaly, a window pops up with two sine waves, and your job as the player is to manipulate one of the sine waves to match the other, in 6 seconds. It's really easy to do, but the simple fact of the matter is that it's [i]interactive[/i] rather than being passive. If you fail to complete the task, you just get a lesser reward (as opposed to no reward at all).
[center][img=44x100]https://i.imgur.com/sMUQ928.gif[/img]
[i]Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer.[/i][/center]
That's the principle, I think. So, for example, cracking a safe would involve a lockpicking minigame, hacking a computer would come with a little logic puzzle, disarming a bomb would iovolve a little "trace the wire" puzzle, and so on. Not everything would need to have a minigame attached, naturally, but it would help with interactivity.
{also, your signature - SMBC reference?}
Another example of a puzzle minigame they use in Star Trek Online is "align the data chips" for some code breaking tasks. You've got a top row and a bottom row, and there's white green and blue pieces in the array. Rearrange the pieces so that the top and bottom pieces are together in a particular color order (such as blue, green, white). It's a pretty easy slider puzzle to solve (really), but can also make you stop and think about what you're doing in order to accomplish it ... which is way more interesting than just looking at a progress bar.
Defusing Bombs has a really interesting game mechanic for it too. A window pops up and it has instructions for what you need to do, but you've only got 4 seconds to do it in. There's Red, Green, and Blue wires ... and the instructions to defuse the bomb tell you to cut any and/or all of the wires, so it's random in terms of what you need to do, but you're told what you need to do. After cutting the CORRECT wires, you're then given an option to Disarm Bomb to complete the operation ... of which needs to happen in 4 seconds. This little mini-game is "fast enough" to make you feel like you (the Player) are being pressured to do this right in the limited amount of time ... but it's not "too fast" in that you don't have to be Twitch Gamer Fast in order to accomplish it correctly. Fun part is when you flub and the bomb goes off in your face ...
[center][img=44x100]https://i.imgur.com/sMUQ928.gif[/img]
[i]Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer.[/i][/center]
Heh, cool. So yeah, while it might not be an original idea, any possibility of it finding its way into the game proper eventually?
I really like these ideas! it's so much more fun to be able to interact than be forced to watch as my character does everything and I watch an animation or a progress bar. I'd also like to see some other areas of the game have these sorts of fun puzzles, just to break up some of the monotony that sometimes occurs.