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TIGSource ForumsDeveloperDesignWhat are some quality of life features that are a must have for modern gaming?
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Author Topic: What are some quality of life features that are a must have for modern gaming?  (Read 1857 times)
TwoSaint
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« on: February 12, 2020, 08:49:10 PM »

what are some creature comforts that you can't live without in games? example rebindable keys


EDIT: Can't live without. What are the little things that are in the game that make it more enjoyable
« Last Edit: February 13, 2020, 09:26:44 AM by TwoSaint » Logged
Schrompf
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« Reply #1 on: February 12, 2020, 11:21:15 PM »

What? "can live without" or "are a must"?

A must is a proper save option. I got a family and a full time job, interruptions of my gaming are common and surprising. I want to be able to save anywhere and continue from there without loss.

And fuck you, you entitled indie devs and your "I want to make saving a meaningful interaction, like a resource the player has to manage". Just be honest about it: "I haven't found a package in the Asset Store that compensates my incompetence."

[edit] I fell for a bot again, didn't I? Probably repeating some generic question from a different corner of the internet.
« Last Edit: February 13, 2020, 01:53:53 AM by Schrompf » Logged

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ThemsAllTook
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« Reply #2 on: February 13, 2020, 07:12:07 AM »

And fuck you, you entitled indie devs and your "I want to make saving a meaningful interaction, like a resource the player has to manage". Just be honest about it: "I haven't found a package in the Asset Store that compensates my incompetence."

[edit] I fell for a bot again, didn't I? Probably repeating some generic question from a different corner of the internet.

I don't think so. Not sure where all this is coming from. Looks like a legitimate post to me.

Nonrebindable keys can actually be a real accessibility problem. I certainly wouldn't put it in the realm of creature comforts - it's something that would be a huge oversight to leave out. I've been playing a surprising number of games lately that allow key rebinding, but have just one fixed controller layout that you can't change. That's just as important! There are often ways to work around this like making your own layout with Joy2Key, but it really ought to be built into any game that has controller support. Even as an able-bodied person, there have been a lot of times when a developer's chosen gamepad layout doesn't really work well with my hands.
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TwoSaint
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« Reply #3 on: February 13, 2020, 09:31:58 AM »

I agree i guess "creature comforts" is a bad wway to put it. What i wanted to know was what are some thing that cant be overlooked when making a game? things that allow the user to feel more comfortable.
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TwoSaint
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« Reply #4 on: February 13, 2020, 09:38:48 AM »

A must is a proper save option. I got a family and a full time job, interruptions of my gaming are common and surprising. I want to be able to save anywhere and continue from there without loss.

Saving anywhere is a great one, adding to that idea a prompt that shows you what you where doing at that very moment in time so
you can decrease the amount of time you spend readjusting.

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George Hennen
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« Reply #5 on: February 13, 2020, 03:21:43 PM »

What? "can live without" or "are a must"?

A must is a proper save option. I got a family and a full time job, interruptions of my gaming are common and surprising. I want to be able to save anywhere and continue from there without loss.

And fuck you, you entitled indie devs and your "I want to make saving a meaningful interaction, like a resource the player has to manage". Just be honest about it: "I haven't found a package in the Asset Store that compensates my incompetence."

[edit] I fell for a bot again, didn't I? Probably repeating some generic question from a different corner of the internet.

Kind of jerk arent you.
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-Ross
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« Reply #6 on: February 13, 2020, 07:03:01 PM »

• Rebindable keys/controls (especially for local multiplayer games, sheesh!)
• For a desktop game, basic keyboard and mouse interaction in the menus (arrow keys, enter, clicking buttons).
• Vertically-wrapping menus.
• No unskippable cutscenes (unless it's impossible to die and have to sit through it again...maybe?).
• No slow UI animations - like more than 0.2 seconds.
• Options menu available from the pause menu.
• Separate music and effects volume sliders.
• Showing screenshots of when you save the game so you can see where you were before you load it -- not really a must-have, but it's a great feature. It's often more useful than naming your saves.
• More than 4 profile/save slots, come on.

Of course all of these things were fairly common in...1995...so it's really just "well made" games, not "modern" ones. It's generally UI/UX issues, which it seems like most developers don't like to work on? (or just aren't very good at? or like to make excuses for?) I think there are a lot of games I would have played much more if they weren't kind of a drag to use. Make it fast and convenient to use and customizable so people can make it comfortable for themselves, and then the gameplay can shine in the best possible light.
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Schrompf
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« Reply #7 on: February 14, 2020, 02:12:13 AM »

Kind of jerk arent you.
Yeah, sometimes. You're probably reacting to the "asset store" thingy which I admit was snarlily worded because I'm frustrated about these to no end. It feels so elitist to artificially break game progress conservation in favour of some design goal. That's like fucking up controls because you want to simulate the player character's crippling wounds.
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Demi Dawnfall
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« Reply #8 on: February 14, 2020, 06:13:06 AM »

Text skipping & text histories. Bonus points if they stop wherever I last was reading.

Especially on games that are very text-heavy, even though I enjoyed it the first time around, if the game crashed or I'm just fishing for a particular event, I really don't want to have to mash 'A' forever to get back there. And then the text history for when my impatient self inevitably mashes past that dialogue I was looking for. Tongue
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« Reply #9 on: February 14, 2020, 02:53:27 PM »

@Schrompf games with bad controls have a long and storied tradition: would you say the legendary QWOP or its ilk are bad? Now that kind of intentionally bad design still has to be done well, so I know that it sucks when you play a game that is smooth one second and then rough another can be a nightmare, but difficult to master games can scratch an itch that a lot of players have. In a similar vein there were what for a while were called "masocore" games that truly punish the player for making small mistakes or are just generally tough as nails. Again, people are really into that for some reason.

I enjoyed the save system in Majora's Mask, which I probably wouldn't like now but I did have fun with it when I was younger. You could insta-save at an owl, and then you had to reset before the time limit was up for the 3 day thing. That made the interaction more meaningful and actually fun to me. But similarly, when you play dota or fortnight you don't have the option to save so I'm not sure its a must.

Now: short bite sized play sessions are a must for me. If I need to play for 10 hour chunks I literally will not be able to find time for it, but if it makes me go for say 30 minutes without a save and perhaps a bit of progress lost if I don't that's no biggie for me.
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Demi Dawnfall
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« Reply #10 on: February 15, 2020, 03:53:39 AM »

@Schrompf games with bad controls have a long and storied tradition: would you say the legendary QWOP or its ilk are bad? Now that kind of intentionally bad design still has to be done well, so I know that it sucks when you play a game that is smooth one second and then rough another can be a nightmare, but difficult to master games can scratch an itch that a lot of players have. In a similar vein there were what for a while were called "masocore" games that truly punish the player for making small mistakes or are just generally tough as nails. Again, people are really into that for some reason.

Considering this thread after a day of sleep, I agree that this is important to note. That is, it's important to design a game with as many non-stressors as possible except the ones that add to the game experience. Same as the rules of writing:  follow normal rules unless you're breaking them for a good reason.

Another fun, modern example is how DDLC deletes your saves. Or how Undertale links save points to key story ideas SPOILER: determination about something happening at the current time or location, subverted when you play the genocide route.

Rules broken for good reasons can be interesting to play so long as they don't go so far out of bounds as to become frustrating, because I agree, I also don't have 10 hour chunks to play a game anymore.
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TwoSaint
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« Reply #11 on: February 16, 2020, 08:24:50 PM »

Now: short bite sized play sessions are a must for me. If I need to play for 10 hour chunks I literally will not be able to find time for it, but if it makes me go for say 30 minutes without a save and perhaps a bit of progress lost if I don't that's no biggie for me.

ive been thinking a lot about how,when, and where a player can save. At the moment i was playing around with the idea of being able to quicksave when ever and where ever. but if you hit a "fail state" (lose or die) the game set you back to a fixed save point, and you lose all the quick saves preceding that fixed save, this in my opinion is the best of both world giving people an easy out when real life calls as those 10 hour gaming sessions we have are gone. Sad but allowing the player to still have tension and something to lose. im not sure yet how this will play out
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Demi Dawnfall
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« Reply #12 on: February 16, 2020, 09:58:39 PM »

ive been thinking a lot about how,when, and where a player can save. At the moment i was playing around with the idea of being able to quicksave when ever and where ever. but if you hit a "fail state" (lose or die) the game set you back to a fixed save point, and you lose all the quick saves preceding that fixed save, this in my opinion is the best of both world giving people an easy out when real life calls as those 10 hour gaming sessions we have are gone. Sad but allowing the player to still have tension and something to lose. im not sure yet how this will play out

I agree with this sentiment. It is the best of both worlds!

Perhaps we could even improve it by automatically running the quicksave feature on game-close. An auto-save feature that allows you to close the game without needing to take the time to take a save action for those quick-gotta-run-to-work moments.
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