10 mechanics
I notice I’ve not exploited the “top-10” cliché yet, so I’ve written a list of some game mechanics that I’d like to see used more often. I hope it will offer some good design suggestions to you and me as well.
1. Asynchronous co-op: I was reflecting about less expensive options for developers (indies) who want to implement a multiplayer/co-op component, so I thought about the common ghost-car mechanic and how a player could load the playthrough of his friends in his own game. The player sees only the ghost of the character (no items nor enemies) but can interact with it in some way.
He could load multiple ghost at once too, recreating something like the replay feature of Super Meat Boy, but useful beyond creating a cool sequence of fifty deaths.
Obviously asynchronous gameplay exists already out there (ex. Farmville), but asynch co-op?
2. Asymmentric co-op: I mean the asymmetry of the playground, where the second player isn’t exactly in the same place of the first, though they both play the same game at the same time.
Super Mario Galaxy is a decent example where your partner shoot star fragments from out the screen. A better example is Natural Selection 2, where there’s a commander who oversees from above the soldiers in first person view. Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure is another, if there’re a different player swapping the tiles below.
3. Replay without restarting: I appreciate when a game has replay value, but I rarely have the time to restart it to try new paths or characters. I’d like to see the “what-if” part integrated in the gameplay, like in Fahrenheit you’re allowed to see the same scenes from different perspective. Providing a menu to easily select the various missions of the game is just the start (though we often don’t get that either L).
4. Combat without killing: I’d like to see more games where your only option isn’t to kill enemies to win. Yes, I’m aware of the existence of stealth games, but I mean more ways to interact with characters: incapacitate, stun, confuse, blind, terrorize, make them dance… (Ratchet&Clank series). A monster you have to make cooler to slow down and warm up to make it move faster?
5. Different level themes: it’s related though not a mechanic per-se. Space, lava and ice levels are common since Super Mario Bros.3, but I would appreciate better variety and fantasy, since Psychonauts has proved it’s possible. Even the last Castlevanias for DS are capable of it.
6. Less final exams: Portal2 is structured in a way that you play a section with a dominant mechanic, that then is dropped to introduce another one and so on. They mix them up only at the end.
It’s not about stop using it when it’s interesting anymore, but stop after teaching without testing the player to death. I was entertained by being instructed in the various uses of a particular mechanic without having to repeat everything in harder sections.
7. Change of scale: similar to point 2) but here I imagine the player being able run like a human a moment, then tower buildings and watch people beneath his feet another, then sneak like a snake through tiny passages, etc. It’s about the change of perspective to improve the sense of place.
8. Interactive “cutscenes”: Half Life 2 did it so well that it’s incredible that there’s still games (FPSs) that steal the control from the player to inoculate their plot (Hydrophobia!!!). Gear of War slows down the character and it’s still irritating, because the imposition is evident, while Left4Dead1-2 win in providing story insights even without enclosing the player in limited spaces out of perils.
9. Avatar maneuvering: I appreciate how more games introduce parkour mechanics to make the player movements more varied and nuanced, though it’s still close to its roots (Doom).
The problem is the interface, since you can press only so many buttons, in fact you hit W to go forward instead of controlling both feet. Standard keyboard and controller can do more, but I’ve better hopes in Kinect, where a decent swim mechanic doesn’t seem impossible.
10. Recursive world: you can create incredible worlds and the craziest thing you come up with is inverted gravity? Well, I like it anyhow, but I appreciate much more attempts like Fez and Miegakure that impose/require to reconsider how you look at things.
I was thinking about the recursive backgrounds of 2d games and how having this recursion in 3d could lead to neat results (ex. player fires rocket but misses the target, it’ll return from behind, constituting an additional treat to dodge).
