Hint System/Detective mode. What do you guys think of something like a Hint System (Monkey Island Special Edition), if you press H it will give you a hint, if you keep pressing it will tell you what to do and where to go. With Detective mode you learn what are the special areas (Batman Arkham Asylum), almost played the whole game in detective mode. I heard that wii games will eventually play themselves. I personally think this is great, I hate getting stuck and not knowing where to go. Maybe game designers dont like it but I love it as a gamer. What do you guys think

Yah, or even better, lets just stop making games, challenge is so hard to do - and what with all the lazy people out there, I figure I'm just going to release the "black" screen, no special features, no gameplay, no expensive sound, or graphics - if you can put the game in the console, you will be rewarded with a "you win" screen upon the completion of load.

There has to be a limit to the things that will be revealed in hints. They'll take you a certain distance, but at some point you have to find your own way. I certainly don't want the game to play itself.

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Original post by Aiursrage 1. What do you guys think of something like a Hint System 2. I heard that wii games will eventually play themselves. 3. I hate getting stuck and not knowing where to go.

1. I like hint systems, but they shouldn't go too far. Take a look at the hint system in the DS puzzle game, Professor Layton and the Curious Village.
2. I doubt that what you heard is a reliable prognostication.
3. Sure, but you also like feeling a sense of accomplishment.

[Edited by - Tom Sloper on September 28, 2009 12:16:51 AM]

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Original post by Tom Sloper Quote: Original post by Aiursrage 1. What do you guys think of something like a Hint System 2. I heard that wii games will eventually play themselves. 3. I hate getting stuck and not knowing where to go. 1. I like hint systems, but they shouldn't go too far. Take a look at the hint system in the DS puzzle game, Professor Layton and the Curious Village. 2. I doubt that what you heard is a reliable prognostication. 3. Sure, but you also like feeling a sense of accomplishment.

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Super Mario Bros Wii to introduce new ‘demo play’ feature to help gamers out of tough situations The movement to make gaming as accessible as possible to as many people as possible is about to take another step forward with the news that Nintendo is to introduce a new option in upcoming games that will effectively allow the games to play themselves.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/34712/Nintendo-games-now-play-themselves

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The movement to make gaming as accessible as possible to as many people as possible is about to take another step forward with the news that Nintendo is to introduce a new option in upcoming games that will effectively allow the games to play themselves. Dubbed ‘demo play’, the facility will allow those stuck on any particular section of a title to ask the game’s AI to take over and play the level itself. Control can be won back at any time by pressing any button. “In New Super Mario Bros Wii, if a player is experiencing an area of difficulty, this will allow them to clear troubled areas and take over when they're ready,” Nintendo development boss Shigeru Miyamoto told USA Today. “We're looking into this for future games, too.”

http://www.casualgaming.biz/news/28765/Nintendo-games-to-play-themselves

Just gotta love how Shigeru Miyamoto says:

“We're looking into this for future games, too.”


Gets spun into:

"news that Nintendo is to introduce a new option in upcoming games that will effectively allow the games to play themselves."


becomeing:

"wii games will eventually play themselves."


Going from investigateing a potential feature to declaration of it being an future option to a foregone conclusion of its application...This is Shigeru Miyamoto afterall, well known for scrapping features, options, even whole games that fail to meet his standards. So when he says he is looking into this potential feature, he means just that.

There are so many games that I've quit because I got stuck. Sometimes the solution was ridiculous (like having to click on a very small area on the screen or having to speak to a NPC that looks like any other useless NPC in the game).

I guess people would need to do some market research for their own game if they were to include such a feature. Making a demo-mode in a Mario game makes sense to me because it's meant for kids*. I know as a kid I'd get frustrated as certain jumps in Mario that would ruin an otherwise perfect gaming session.

There are some other interesting ideas that spawn from this though. For example, have you ever heard of "Let's play"? Basically people record themselves playing a game as they narrate what they are doing. I love watching them for games that I've played already. Heck, I used to spend hours as a kid watching my cousin go through "grown up" games like the original Final Fantasy. I'd love to pop a game in my xbox, set it up on auto, and just kick back and fall asleep to Lost Odyssey instead of a movie :)

fake edit: *I mean, it's meant for more casual players.

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Original post by Aiursrage http://www.mcvuk.com/news/34712/Nintendo-games-now-play-themselves http://www.casualgaming.biz/news/28765/Nintendo-games-to-play-themselves

It's written on the Internet, so it must be true! In the future, all Nintendo games will play themselves. That frees the casual audience to go do other things.
{Retroactive sarcasm}{/Retroactive sarcasm}

{Pretend these are square brackets}

I didn't really mind the Arkham Asylum Detective Mode, or at least what I saw of it in the game demo. It allows you to pick out what is part of the background, and what you can interact with, and that was nice. I am not sure what it does beyond that, however.

As far as just pressing a button and getting a hint of what to do next, I don't like that. Almost every game has multiple FAQs on gamefaqs.com, so you can look up exactly what you have to do if you want to. However, putting it in the game makes people more likely to take the easy route instead of trying to figure it out. Not that there is anything wrong with people playing how they want to play, but built-in tip systems may tempt players to get the hint when they would even have more fun trying to figure it out. At least you know you are giving up when you go check an FAQ online.

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Original post by jackolantern1 As far as just pressing a button and getting a hint of what to do next, I don't like that. Almost every game has multiple FAQs on gamefaqs.com, so you can look up exactly what you have to do if you want to. However, putting it in the game makes people more likely to take the easy route instead of trying to figure it out.

Right, exactly. What Professor Layton does is make you pay for your hints. And they only go so far -- you can buy three hints and still not know the solution sometimes.
I implemented a hint system in Shanghai: Great Moments, but those hints also never told you precisely what to do.
Thimk!