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[jamesprimate]

Surely this is context dependant, but curious for thoughts on the subject. Some games seem to have a fairly minimal approach with achievements used to demarcate major plot points or obvious progression in the game, whereas others use much more of them to act as an additional layer of gameplay or to encourage further exploration of the world, etc.

Do you care? Which do you like? Whats the game has the best achievements in your opinion?

[rj]

for rain world between 10-20 probably.

depends on the game. something like GTA or Fallout easily can get upwards of 100, same for a super secret-heavy and skill-based game like binding of isaac. for something more intimately scaled achievements can be nice in a more interesting and sparing way.

stanley parable used achievements well. so did FEZ.

[s0]

Zero as far as im concerned

[Schoq]

yeah please have a way to opt out of popups at least

[s0]

yeah please have a way to opt out of popups at least

thats usually not up to the dev

[Schoq]

ya i kno

are they still forced on with no way to turn them off in steam?

[s0]

i have no idea tbh, ive learned to just ignore them

(oh also it goes without saying that our opinions are not the consensus. if you leave out achievements youre probably going to get a lot of hate for that)

[Superb Joe]

69

[AlexRamallo]

I personally like achievements. They're like a bonus meta gameplay element. If you really enjoy a particular game, chasing all the achievements can be extra rewarding. It also adds a light competitive multiplayer aspect to it, as people can compare their achievements with their friends'.

Of course, a lot of games do it terribly. Things like tutorial/progression achievements are cheap and empty experiences. But an achievement such as  "Find the hidden treasure on island X" can promote exploration in a fun and interesting way.

[Manuel Magalhães]

69

nice

[Manuel Magalhães]

I try to disable achievement prompts whenever possible and I don't care about unlocking them. I guess I prefer games where simple progression doesn't unlock achievements because it reduces the likelihood of seeing them when I can't disable the prompts, but I'm not part of the audience for achievements and watching an achievement getting unlocked isn't that bad to me, just distracting/annoying.

are they still forced on with no way to turn them off in steam?

ya

[jamesprimate]

(oh also it goes without saying that our opinions are not the consensus. if you leave out achievements youre probably going to get a lot of hate for that)

oh yeah def. as im more of the "doesnt bother with achievements" type person, im casting a wide net for answers and seeing what comes up. Ive learned a lot tbh!

twitter poll has been very interesting: https://twitter.com/BRIGHTPRIMATE/status/767370175624732672

[readyplaygames]

Achievements can be neat, but I hate those stupid popups. 20 is a bit on the high side.

Also, please don't make achievements for just playing the game. Yes, I beat level 1, it's not an achievement. Beating level 1 without getting hit once, however, is.

[Capntastic]

Fourtreen

[jamesprimate]

Also, please don't make achievements for just playing the game. Yes, I beat level 1, it's not an achievement. Beating level 1 without getting hit once, however, is.

this seems to be the general consensus! Suggestions have been to either use the achievements for challenges, humor or to showcase mechanics that might not be otherwise obvious.

[Superb Joe]

7 so that people can remember them all

[Nillo]

Some types of achievements I want to see in a game:
-Main progression achievements (obtained when reaching a major plot point/defeating a boss/etc)
-Completion of sidequests and optional objectives
-100% achievements (e.g. finding all the collectibles in a level, or all collectibles in the game)
-Challenge run achievements (e.g. win the game without using a potion or without equipping armor)
-Humor (throw a basketball into a hoop, defeat a monster using only bananas, other wacky stuff)

Achievements I prefer not to have:
-Multiplayer achievements in a primarily singleplayer title. These require an active community so it can become difficult or impossible to complete if the MP community of a game has died.
-Grindy achievements like "kill 1000 rats" that don't offer anything interesting and just waste your time.

It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that main progression achievements are pointless since "everyone gets them just by playing the game". But that's not really true. A lot of players quit a game before finishing it. So a main progression achievement tells you how far that player progressed in the game before quitting. This can provide valuable insight for a developer. You look at the main progression trophies and ask: at what point did the player become bored/frustrated and quit the game? If there's a big decrease in completion rate between two progression achievements, this could be a sign that something in the game is too difficult or annoying to complete.

Main progression achievements also provide a starting point for discussion between players about the game. Let's say you have finished a game and you want to discuss a SPOILER with another player. If you look at their main progression achievements, you can see if they have reached the plot point where the SPOILER happens. Then you know if it's safe to talk about this topic or if you should wait a bit longer before bringing it up.

Also: This is a Steam-specific tip but PLEASE do not use icon color to distinguish locked and unlocked achievements. This is really obnoxious for colorblind players because they cannot use the compare achievements view to see what they have left to complete.

Instead use a different graphic like a padlock or an unopened chest to indicate that an achievement is unobtained.

[s0]

Also, please don't make achievements for just playing the game. Yes, I beat level 1, it's not an achievement. Beating level 1 without getting hit once, however, is.

this seems to be the general consensus! Suggestions have been to either use the achievements for challenges, humor or to showcase mechanics that might not be otherwise obvious.

some people use progression achievements to track their progress in a game and show off to their steam/psn/xbox live/whatever friends, just something to consider.

[AlexRamallo]

Some types of achievements I want to see in a game:
-Main progression achievements (obtained when reaching a major plot point/defeating a boss/etc)
-Completion of sidequests and optional objectives
-100% achievements (e.g. finding all the collectibles in a level, or all collectibles in the game)
-Challenge run achievements (e.g. win the game without using a potion or without equipping armor)
-Humor (throw a basketball into a hoop, defeat a monster using only bananas, other wacky stuff)

Lol, I was actually playing your Griddy RPG game the other day, and beat it all the way through (great game :D)! I didn't expect to be so entertained by what seemed like such a simple game, yet I grinded all the way up to the final boss and beat it.

After beating it though, I noticed that there were achievements. Some were crazy and there's no way I was going to attempt them (like beat the game without killing anything), but the one about finding the creepy cave convinced me to go back and keep playing until I found it.


If I didn't end up liking your game, I probably never would've paid any attention to the achievements at all. Since I did though, I continued playing beyond completion to chase after some achievements, and it increased my overall satisfaction/entertainment.

[Nillo]

Lol, I was actually playing your Griddy RPG game the other day, and beat it all the way through (great game :D)! I didn't expect to be so entertained by what seemed like such a simple game, yet I grinded all the way up to the final boss and beat it.

After beating it though, I noticed that there were achievements. Some were crazy and there's no way I was going to attempt them (like beat the game without killing anything), but the one about finding the creepy cave convinced me to go back and keep playing until I found it.


If I didn't end up liking your game, I probably never would've paid any attention to the achievements at all. Since I did though, I continued playing beyond completion to chase after some achievements, and it increased my overall satisfaction/entertainment.

That's awesome to hear, thanks.~ To tell you the truth, I rarely receive any comments on this game, so it's a relief to know it hasn't been entirely forgotten at least.

I need to post new screenshots in the griddy thread. It seems like Imageshack killed all the images in my account for some reason. It's a shame, they used to be a decent host.

If you're curious, the enemies in that cave are cameos of characters from a webcomic that a friend of mine used to make, and the achievement is a reference to his nickname.