Need some advices to make a game less lame as a beginner
If you’re a beginner, it’s probably better to do a lot of simple projects and try some mechanics that you find interesting, to see how they pan out, instead of compiling a list of mechanics to avoid. A common exercise is trying to remake a known game and changing one or two mechanics from it, to learn how to create variation and explore possibilities.
That said, I (and many people I know) really dislike waiting for long and/or without a good reason. Lots of games have waiting as a mechanic (think building in Age of Empires, or crop growth in Stardew Valley), and it’s good when it’s balanced. But waiting for too long or - even worse - with the explicit intent of frustrating the player and making him pay to accelerate things, is one of the worse things I can imagine in game design.
But keep in mind that different people might like or dislike different things. Just because someone said they don’t like something, does not mean you should avoid it. As is often said, it’s impossible to please everyone, and many times, you’ll have to accept that some people will not like your game, or a specific mechanic on it. To give an example, I’m not a fan of the invasion mechanic in souls games. I don’t despise it, it’s just something I wish was optional. But it is a core mechanic and overrall liked by the players, so I’m a minority on that opinion, and fromsoft has no good reason to change it.
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Requiring the player to jump from thing to thing, while not giving the player the ability to jump well, nor know exactly where they are standing. Poor interpretations of the acceptable landing points.
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Poor climbing (see above)
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Endless tasks (grinding) instead of actual quality game play. Sometimes those two are greatly confused
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Poor use of 3rd party camera
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Bad cutscenes with bad dialog
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Bad dialog, overall. Writing code is a skill, but so is writing compelling language that doesn’t sound like a 12 yr old thought it up
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Misapplied technology: if your game requires good physics and you cannot provide it/code it, change your game. Don’t give the player bad physics and call it a design decision
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Too many weapons/items in the game, that have hardly any practical difference.
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I second @TerraSkilll – I wouldn’t worry too much about this until you have some game development experience, and I’d pick mechanics to implement you yourself like. Because there are lots of different game mechanics hated by lots of different people, and you can neither avoid them all, nor would that necessarily be the right thing to do; your game might fit a certain target population very well, and not be attractive to others, and there is nothing wrong with that.
But I’ll name three things that will actively keep me from picking up a game I might otherwise buy, they tick me off so much:
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Grinding is built into the game’s core mechanics. I don’t mind some grinding, for when I am at the end of my day and don’t have much brain power but can’t quite go to sleep yet. But if everything in the game requires a mindless grind, that’s beyond boring.
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Forced combat in exploration games – I love exploring, I don’t care for combat (I don’t think this is very common, but I do know I am not alone). Please give me a “peaceful” mode, and don’t nerf it otherwise; make it so I can achieve all major exploratory goals in the game without battling anything. Natural hazards are ok, I just don’t like combat. Even Minecraft, which I love, doesn’t get that entirely right.
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No proper save point. I will throw the game against the wall if I can’t save my progress any time. I only forgave Stardew Valley because it is otherwise such a cool game, but having to play out the day or lose all progress is really a pain when I have to stop playing right then and there.
Oh wait, there’s one I think everybody hates: Pay-to-Win. Predatory garbage, and I’ll boycott it.
3 Likes