I have a game design question for all of you. I am trying to design a level for a life-sim game where each area is meant to be revisited often. To make this more interesting, I have set up the game’s map like a web of connected points, allowing multiple routes between areas that challenge the player's navigation skills.

The main issue I’m running into is how I keep repeated map traversal interesting. My best idea so far is to add unlockable shortcuts to the level to make traversal easier, but I worry that this will just make it less interesting by removing challenge.

Some other ideas I’ve had are:

• Randomized elements like different platforming challenge layouts.
• Randomized blockades to force non-standard routes, such as flooding a route due to rain.
• Changing elements based on time of day, such as a gate being closed at night.

I would love to hear any thoughts or suggestions you have in order to better design a level like this. Thank you for your time!

It is likely going to be unique depending on your game.

You mentioned changing routes, like flooding or gates. Instead of barriers you might do incentives, like different collectables along different paths, or paths that grant quick, small rewards to high level players that return. Carrots rather than sticks, incentives are usually better than penalties.

If you're looking at monsters or other random time-consuming encounters, you might also have incentives around that. There have been games that introduce an auto-kill against low level monsters, or they have a slow, random-run flee while dropping items. That way high level players in a hurry can casually run through, or they can pick up the easily farmed items.

Fast travel through story line can be used, unlocking a vehicle, cab ride, teleport crystal, or other method that suits the game. They can also be used as a money sink for balancing the economy.

@frob Thank you so much! What you said about incentives instead of blockades was really helpful information. This helps add more factors to a player’s choice than the binary blockade approach, which should help add variety.

@frob Yes, putting things on the way, that players can pick up, makes the places the players walk around a lot more interesting.

An example is in Graveyard Keeper, where you can gather crafting materials that spawn at random in the paths you use to come and go all the time.

If map “traversal” is a chore to be reduced by “shortcuts” and the real game happens at the connected locations your chances to make travel fun are very low.

What important gameplay can, instead, take place while traveling? There can be predictable random encounters (e.g. robbers in a bad part of the city or dogs in a public park), discoveries and foraging in appropriate places (e.g. capturing wild pokémon in somebody's garden), so many places to visit regularly (e.g. stores offer something new and useful for sale) that the player needs to plan efficient routes, places that can be discovered and adopted as important map locations, events to witness (e.g. a riot with a surprising reason in the main square).

In a living world locations and characters would also change, move and disappear, and the player can be motivated to explore repeatedly in order to remain well informed.

LorenzoGatti said:
In a living world locations and characters would also change, move and disappear, and the player can be motivated to explore repeatedly in order to remain well informed.

I think persistence is important in this context.

Ideally some of those world changes happening are consequences of player actions. If the player sees his actions have an effect on the world that's great. But then he also expects those changes are still there when he comes back later.
A simple example is randomly spawning enemies vs. a finite number of enemies. If i have to track back, and i have to fight the same soulless enemies again and again, i won't have fun.
But if i track back, and all the enemies are still dead, i will enjoy it because it is easier now than before, confirming my progress and impact.

Ofc. that's easier said than done, because we now need to find other ways than fighting to entertain the player. So let's spread some goodies. Treasures, ammo packs, rare items.
But then the same applies: It should be a finite amount of resources ideally. So the player knows his choices matter.

It's unavoidable that at some point there is nothing new to find anymore. Then it might become boring. But luckily games have an end, ideally happening before that. : )

Thank you all for your input! This has given me valuable information to consider.