At what point does a game become too gimmicky?
- Thread starter Uwu_Oocoo2
- Start date
The moment the gimmick stops being fun. Though a tired subject, I look at my experience with the motion controls in Skyward Sword. There quickly came a point while playing that game where the controls stopped being tolerable and starting making me think, 'Would this be less fun on a regular controller?' At that point, the gimmick is bad.
I had heard once that when making Twilight Princess, they had originally intended to assign sword fighting to a button. But when they gave it to test audiences, they kept instinctively swinging the wiimote instead. To me, that basically sums up what a good gimmick is, something that feels natural and improves gameplay. With Skyward Sword, the motion controls impaired gameplay because they were finicky and difficult to carry out. So like a lot of people here have been saying, the game comes first and gimmicks second. It's not okay for the game to require a function just to promote it at the cost of the gameplay.
Mikey the Moblin
if I had a nickel for every time I ran out of spac
skyward sword and twilight princess are literally the same though? If you can't swing a wiimote properly you can't swing a wiimote properly
TP you just swing the sword. SS you must swing the sword in this SPECIFIC 45 DEGREE ANGLE otherwise it does 0 damage!!!! That's just bad game design!
Mikey the Moblin
if I had a nickel for every time I ran out of spac
TIL real life swordfights are bad game design
I mean, it easily devolves to iffy design when the controls are as primitive as the Wii's (even with Motion Plus). Motion controls didn't really become functionally precise until the introduction of stuff like the Vive and Oculus Rift controllers. Wii Motion Plus is still crippled by the need to set the controller down and recalibrate if you move too quickly.
Mikey the Moblin
if I had a nickel for every time I ran out of spac
That doesnt have anything to do with the design though. The execution could be flawed due to hardware issues (issues that I've never personally experienced) but that isnt what defines when something is good or bad game design
It comes down to both. The implementation of imprecise motion controls were the gimmick of Skyward Sword.
When the fun disappears for you.