Early Access - How do Stealth Games Deal with Detection?
Added 2020-05-18 13:47:20 +0000 UTCHey!
It's time for the final episode in my stealth game series, School of Stealth. This time, I'm looking at a key ingredient of the genre: being spotted! I'm looking at everything from AI states to quick loading to escaping and hiding!
Hope you like it. Out for everyone tomorrow
Mark
Comments
The quickload issue, if we want to consider it one, stems from the fact that extrinsic rewards (e.g. achievements, ratings, checklists...) always end up robbing the value of intrinsic rewards (e.g. setting a personal challenge, succeeding on a mission, etc). If I like untitled goose game, or Hitman, or what-have-you, without achievements or goals, it's because I find the game fun and appealing. Add achievements and it's no more about the fun of the game, but reaching goals, doing tasks, filling a checklist. The Skinner box takes over. And yes, I'm obviously in line with the school of thought as "Achievements Considered Harmful?" of GDC 10 memory
Paolo Torelli
2020-05-20 08:09:47 +0000 UTCI think one thing that would fix the quicksave temptation for me is if the narrative says that the enemies already know I’m there. The problem for me is that guards searching for a minute or two and then forgetting I was even there is so unrealistic it takes me out of the game even more than magically going back in time. Especially because many narratives act like your character *did* ghost their way through no matter what happens. I think that issue is lessened if the enemy knows you’re sneaking around, but they just don’t know exactly where. In that scenario, it’s less that they forget about you, and more that after enough time has passed they realize you’ve likely gotten far away, so they need to go back to standard patrols instead of intensely looking around your last known location. Narratively this kind of thing would work well with “escape” types of scenarios, and it’d work with “infiltration” types of scenarios if the enemy for some reason has advance knowledge of when the protagonist is staging their attack. You could also add voice clips where guards taunt the player character, even before you’re ever spotted.
Tom T
2020-05-19 12:11:06 +0000 UTC
