I hate level-based games that tell you what to do. I play games because I want freedom and escape from my worldly limits. But what kind of freedom do you get if you''re always being told to go kill X, or deliver Y to Z? NONE! I want an open ended world which has a few rules I can learn but doesn''t force me into some lame, die-repeat, die-repeat gameplay.
Open ended games have been successful in the past: Look at the Starflight or Starcontrol series of games, or the venerable Elite. I think for a game like this to work a few things need to be designed in:
1) Player always has to have something interesting to do. Boredom''s a fact of life in the real world, but a sin in a game
2) Player should always be able to grow. This creates a sense of progress and combats pointless wandering.
3) There should always be something to work toward, preferably some greater goal (save the universe, defeat the armies of darkness, whatever)
4) There should be a lot of mini-goals that are worth taking on. I must stress that these should be 100% optional!!!
5) Success and failure shouldn''t always be binary. This is where I think most games are SO lame. If you try to overthrow the king and fail, for instance, most games put up some stupid automatic defeat screen. A better alternative, though, would be to, say, put a price on the player''s head and force him to run for his life! This would create the illusion of a real world.
These kind of games can be cool if you get the mix right. I think too many gamers have been weaned on level-based games of late, though, so an idea like this wouldn''t sell as much as the top-ten of today. But if you made it, chances are good that I''d buy it!
Just waiting for the mothership...
