Over the course of many years I have studied and learnt a few tactics to design a successful adventure game. I am yet to implement all the ideas which are buzzing around in my head, but I hope to some day.

I feel thirsty for knowledge about game development, it's rare you find websites like www.zoonami.com (if there's more please tell me!). Please add your thoughts to what I have below, I know the information I have gathered is missing lots of things, please add to it I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I made a youtube video a while back talking about the things I've mentioned below:


Here are some of the things I've discovered about designing the genre of game similar to Metriod or Zelda.

Anticipation

It's incredibly important to always give the player anticipation in a game. Using the story to create suspense, build up a goal to anticipate. More specifically using obstacles to block areas that look exciting. Using a gate to block off an area like a forest or castle, give the player something to look forward to by overcoming that obstacle (showing the visuals to anticipate on the other side of the obstacle before the player can overcome it). Twilight Princess/Ocarina of Time, specifically use visuals such as showing Hyrule Castle/Death Mountain in the background before you actually get to these areas.

Create a visual anticipation, give each area a new look and make it a step up from the previous area's visuals. Which rewards the player for progressing in your game with impressive visuals.

Reward

Always reward the player for completing a challenge and as often as possible, give the player a glimpse of the reward before the challenge to create anticipation. Reward the player for exploring your world, whether it be a chest hiding in a hard to see location, something hiding behind a building, an entrance to a new area, a shortcut between areas (shortcuts in an open ended world are great rewards), Metroid Prime 3 is a great example of that (and everything else I've mentioned). Reward the player for defeating enemies, completing challenges, running around aimlessly and cutting bushes in search of gems, everything in everyway. If the player wants to fool around in your game and do silly stuff, give them the freedom to do so and even reward them for doing so.

Pacing

Reward the player more frequently during the beginning of the game than the later parts. The player wants to feel good for having to go through your tutorial so give them something special for doing it. Look at rewarding as a time thing, in casual games rewards are usually required every 30 seconds for the first 4 or so rewards, the rewards become less frequent after that.

If it's an action adventure game pace the action, your game needs to have areas fighting enemies but never drag it out too long, always have areas inbetween the battles, and battles inbetween the puzzles. You don't want so many slow paced areas the player feels bored but you don't want so many battle areas that the player feels overdone and needing a break. Half Life series is a perfect example of that (the commentary in episode 1 and 2 cover that really well).

Pacing the difficulty of the game, easier during the beginning and more difficult towards the end.

Obstacles and Tools

Obstacles are a significant part to the game, they cause the player to stop, think and actually spend time playing your game. They range from enemies to environments that are not passable without the right equipment.

Introducing the player to an obstacle before they have the means to overcome it is a given in games like Metriod and Zelda. It's a significant part of the reward system, "now that I have a flame thrower I can not only flame those pestering enemies I had trouble beating with my sword earlier, but I can also burn those webs that were blocking my path to those shiny treasure chests." Enemies that are harder to overcome without a tool, obstacles that clearly block really nice items that cannot be removed without a tool you gain later on. The quantity of tools you give your player, the innovation each tool gives, the uniqueness of each item should be evident, it makes the game more interesting that you always have something new to look forward to. Pacing at which to lay these tools into your players palms at a rate that they will keep playing.

That's all that comes to mind at the moment. Please feel free to add your thoughts. I'd really like to hear them!

Thanks!

David

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Articles:
Metroid's Design
Zelda: Ocarina of Time analysis

really nice features you have implemented in your game. great work. and this what you have written is quite educative and interesting.

Really enjoyable video ocovering your game.

Can you share some technical details?

A7?
acknex physics or newton?
What Method for the shadow do you use?, is this
baked or all shaders?

Looks like a really cool game. I hope you have the
determination to create a full content game out of it.

For the gamesedign:

All successful playeractions that the player had to work for should post a Reward.
(there should always be a treasure on top of a high tower with lots of enemies).

Especially for RPG: dont make the game automatically
harder, the higher the player rises his level.
Rather make new Areas easier enough to survive.

The worst example is Oblivion, where the programmers simply
make the mosters harder, the higher the players level is.
This feels deeply unfair, as the player knows that
the same dungeon only has rats when he is level 1, but trolls
when he is level 10.

Rather make it like in Gothic, where certain areas are
much too hard at low levels, and rather "reset" all
monsters to higher values when the player succeeded in a finishing a chapter of the story.
This also motivates the player to follow the main story
at some point and then have fresh monsters again.

Dont forget in an RPG to create this "group camp / village feeling". This means to have some area where several people
are, following a simply dayly routine.
So the player always has the urge to finish a quest and come back
to this camp.
Most athmospheric in Gotic:
-the swamp camp, the old mine, the castle,
and the water-mages camp in Gothic 2 Addon.

A7 Physics (I've never dabbled in Newton but it'd be a much cleaner system, A7 physics is buggy), the terrain is a model mesh using a 2nd uv set for a lightmap, with Ventilator's plugin. I used blender to model and gile[s] to lightmap. Stencil shadows for character models using the .cast option to save on performance.

I really like what you've added Oxy. Pacing of difficulty is important thanks for adding that! And making areas easy enough to survive yet challenging is a great add too. Thanks for sharing!

I found this link regarding Metroid to be really useful:

http://www.inxerus.com/feature-view.php?page=1&id=5

This Ocarina of Time analysis is one of my favourite articles:

http://www.zoonami.com/intelligence/surveillance/ocarina_of_time.php

i liked the sentence

"I feel like I’m constantly going where no one has gone before, even though potentially thousands of other players are doing the same thing."

from the Metroit article.

And its true. There should be hard too reach areas, that are optional, and players really feel rewarded when reaching them.
Maybe even place a visible goodie on a very high cliff. A player might never be able to reach it, but the game still gives the feeling of offering special and hidden chances.
When you reach that feeling, you make the player feel to be (emerge) in a virtual world, and not just a collection of bytes in a computer gamelevel.

I think the worst is, if the player gets the feeling of just following a gamedesigners wishes (scripted actions and
predetermined path).
Even deciding to be in guild one, or the opposing guild, even if it makes not so much difference in the end, makes the player feel to have made his own decision.

Thanks for that great advice.

A few things I prefer in a game:

1. No more than 6 keyboard commands. Preferably none.
2. Mouse driven using both buttons and wheel.
3. Uncluttered playing screen. Forget the bank of mysterious icons.
4. Ridiculously easy at first.
5. Hints available at moments of indecision.
6. Challenges or Quests to introduce interface and elements. Think "Lemmings".
7. Shortcuts for bypassing familiar areas.
8. No player decision that doesn't engender a reward or cost a penalty.

...and an interface that makes the game controls crystal clear to a non gamer.

I give a novel 40 pages to grab me. I give a game about 10 minutes. If it is too hard or the interface sucks I'll be clicking "quit" to the months of effort and skilled talent that created it.

Those are great additions! Anyone else have anything to add?

I wonder if Orange_Brat has passed this way, I'd really like to hear his thoughts. And a few others.

This is something of a pet hate, so please forgive the overly long post on this subject alone! Humour me please

Something I am always suprised by, is the lack of fresh, new creativity in games.

I am not talking about a unique and awesome concept for a game, nor any core mechanic; where the mechanic IS the game( just look at LBP for PS3 due out very soon). These levels of creativity are generally good and occasionally spectacular, no, what I mean is basic, core level creativity.

Sometimes the problem is all to easy to solve, and while the obvious solution is sound enough, it often means the more interesting, and potentially, ground breaking options are overlooked.

An example:

Problem: -
During the game the player is asked to decide something, follow Bob or stay with Sue and protect her. How do we know what choice the player wishes to make?

Solution: -
Simple, give them a pop up box with the choice: Bob or Sue?

This is a relativly sound solution to this simple problem and in some cases, possibly the only option, granted. However I doubt this is as true as it seems based on games I have purchased. Just look at Mass-Effect, they really ran with this solution despite its core USP being an almost realistic level of dialogue and plot.

Many 3D FPS style games, seem to insist on this mechanic solution, despite it's break from the immersiveness of the game, often without even any attempt to give the popup some kind of real world context.

As a result, games companies spend masses of time and money, working on making their User Interface the most intuitive, the most accessible, the most pretty?... and yet they all kind of look and feel the same...essentially thats because they are!

Yet the simple, physical movements of the player can make this decision very clear, and frankly requires very little hand-holding from the game to the player. In those games that do handle 'choice' in this way, they often bloat the game with unrealistic dialogue / text. Are you sure you want to stay with Sue? Really? Really Really?....etc

This doesn't happen in real life, so why so much in computer games?

A good designer, doesn't just copy and paste. A good designer takes the base line and pushes it. Finding new ways to challenge the players expectations. To suprise and entertain them, to challenge the generally accepted norm to get its lazy ass up and out of bed, draggin it back into the cold harsh light of day screaming and kicking...

We are trying to immerse the player in a world, a world most often, we ourselves whish to be immersed in. Suspension of Belief is what its all about.

Some other problems that have all to familiar solutions are, health and armour, fatigue and stamina, [insert other bar based feedback UI here].

Come on, we can do better. Can't we?

Thanks for giving me the op to share one of my design no-no's Great Post BTW

@David: Be sure to read the articles I've posted in my adventure game information thread. There's some invaluable info in there. I haven't updated it in a while because I just don't care anymore, but I'm hoping to get out of this funk and continue on.

http://www.coniserver.net/ubb7/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=35032&page=1