The 10 most common game design mistakes

hmm I don't know you can think any game can be good without a story, now I don't play halo but simply because the story is such crap. Half life 2 got that way as well. Mindless shooting doesn't do it for me but then I am a computer person and a rpg player so... the complication one scares me as well, the LAST thing we need is more games like peggle

Splendid article, Mr. Wylde. Wonderful to see a question I put to many an editor at a certain wedding in November being taken to the next logical step and put in print. As a future game designer, I'm keeping this article. reCAPTCHA: Tyler only (frsrs)

Anybody know what game the Screenshot on Number 4: Complexity is from?

Here's some things that piss me off: 1) When you find an item that you've been trawling the whole level for, and guys with guns inexplicably show up and take it. I'm looking at you, Uncharted. How did you bastards get in here? I had to climb up a cliff face, hang by my fingertips off a ledge then swim through 200ft of water somehow, and now I have the Super Awesome Thing, you pricks are somehow here also. 2) Making me wait until I can move after a cutscene. You show me a huge boss with a cinematic camera angle, then he charges at me with fire billowing from his ears, and you make me stand there for 19 seconds before you return control to me. Or, you show me a bad guy, he gets in a car and starts driving off.............................. 7 seconds later, you return control to me and tell me to shoot him! JUST LET ME PLAY RIGHT AWAY AND I'LL SHOOT THE PRICK BEFORE HE DRIVES OFF! 3) Switching buttons for a particular thing for no reason. Grenades = RB, but then you're swimming and suddenly Grenades = LB, which used to be Run. So I drop grenades everywhere. 4) Rocket launcher ammo, machine gun ammo, 8 health packs, grenades... I think a boss is coming up!

I agree with most points about this article. Especially the incomprehensible puzzles, it took me awhile to figure somethings out in halo because of them. And for #1, I hate games that don't let me skip cutscenes, especially if I'm playing through again. On the other hand, Clueless AI can be really funny. And I also prefer if the game actually ends because I like to play through games more than once. ReCaptcha: bleak pleurisy umm i actually had to look pleurisy up in the dictionary... It's definition is weird...

I got some good advice for those who keep complaining about the same thing over and over again about these mistakes (including all of you guys at Gameradar who keep repeating these things every few seasons under different names): DEAL WITH IT!!! No matter how many times you complain, no matter how many times you get pissed off, 95% of the companies won't listen. They really don't give a damn about what you say here, they only see the bottom line. This goes to other gaming sites as well. You are only a few thousand voice vs. millions of mindless customers who will buy their stuff no matter how crappy the design is. At this very second, those companies who do read these websites like yours will laugh at you guys bitching and mourning about the same thing over and over again and they will do the same 10 thing you bitch about again and again. It is an unstoppable circle. You bitch about game design, the game designers will laugh at your bitching and mourning, and will do the same crappy designs so you can bitch and mourn at them 6 months later and repeat. The only way you can hurt them and send them a message that you mean business is to hit them where it hurts: their wallet. Once their series flop badly, then they will lisetn to you. Otherwise, back to the same top 7/10 crap for you. And besides, since you guys been playing games for a long time and been writing about them for years, you guys of all people should know better and should know how to get around these flaws. The real flaw in gaming design is really YOU, the gamer. Gamers have gotten worse and more impatient then ever. This "I want it quick and I want everthing now" generation just don't have the balls to tolerate this mess. A real gamer won't bitch about this s#!@ and face it head on. These problems have been around ever since the beginning, do you guys really expect that everyting will change in a year? It didn't take them 2 years to be in this mess, and it ain't gonna thak the 2 years to get out either. Go ahead and make fun of these flaws and designs again and again. Unless you go to their face, eye to eye, or make them broke, they will keep laughing and just do it again until you guys ran out of material. You can't do this kind of stuff forever. The more things change, the more they remain the same.

Heh, amen pikachu 2000. QTE aren't the biggest piss-off, they just suck when you're letting your fingers finally rest. Unskippable cutscenes piss me off though. I died...now I have to watch the whole goddamned thing over again? The worst part about it is when the story just...outright sucks. Stupid AI or stupid co-op partners can be fun, as long as they don't glitch up running into the wall. You guys do know that there is a 'tells' in that certain boss battle in RE5...the device starts to static and arc more and more the closer the battle is to being over. Difficult battle though--I killed her...quite a few times with bad aim.

You win! NOW GET OUT. LOL

I hate games that get a dumbed down version for the handheld or last-gen systems. Just cause you can fit a game onto a DS doesn't mean you should, and no, not all games are created equal.

Wow I just watched the whole Eternal Sonata video and died a little inside. Great article Tyler. reCaptcha: in wizardry

yeah, i watched that video for like, 5 seconds before i got bored out of my skull. who the hell is going to sit around for nine minutes watching a list of names scroll by at the speed of drying paint? not me, thats for sure

I completely agree especially with numbers ten and three. There have been puzzles in games I've played where I literally run around for, like, twenty mintues trying to figure out what the hell I'm trying to do. I also hate games that scare me into saving every eight seconds. Bioshock did that to me; it was fun, but I was paranoid out of my mind.

I wonder if anyone mentioned how MMO's(World of warcraft is one) that really havent figured out number 6. You get all these great skills only to get to a boss or elite mob and your complex combat boils down to Bonk bonk, heal, bonk bonk, heal,etc.. Pathetic.

This article can be also known as a reference to Alone in the Dark(what terrible,......terrible game)

I hate resident evil 5, and those are the reasons why.

ugh Assassins Creed is SO guilty of number 1 I just want to get right to the action but instead I have to sit through 10 minutes of some old dude "reveiling" shit that wasnt even all that interesting in the first playthrough

Resident Evil really did not need quick time events. It nearly ruined the game!

right you are Tyler Wilde, Capcom is too loveable.

I really hate unskippable cutscenes as much as the next guy but you should find an unskippable scene to use as an example. I've played Eternal Sonata and any cutscene just press start and there is a prompt to skip.

Great list! I definitely agree with that little jibe at "grinding=gameplay." In my head, I redefine "gameplay" estimations in games. "Over 60 hours of gameplay!" actually means: 1.5 hours of tutorial (acceptable) 3 hours of battles-relevant to core-plot (could be more) 10 hours of mandatory fetch-quests (urg...) 30 hours griding to meet area level requirements to enter plot-relevant battle areas (no...) 2.5 hours of cutscenes involving some sort of prissy ingenue (over it) 11 hours walking before learning a convenient "warp" technique (brains!) 2 hours of character customization (reaction is variable)