Alpha Book

User testing
proved that most players needed a li le help past
this obstacle.
In the ?¬? nal product, a second explosion, timed
a few seconds later, drives the player instinctively
away from the half-opened door that will, in fact,
never open. A text prompt pops up showing the player
how to jump over objects, and a carefully designed
?¬‚ oor mat points toward another opening in the
corridor. The opening is blocked by a set of pipes,
but if you know how to jump, that is no problem at all.
With just a few modi?¬? cations, the opening moments
of the game were changed from an exercise in frustration
to an exciting scene ?¬? lled with drama and
tension.
Arbitrary Events
As much as random events can be used for good e?¬? ects
in certain circumstances, like fortuitous surprises and
unforeseen dangers, badly designed randomness can
be the downfall of a game. Many games involve some
form of randomness. We have seen how randomness
can a?¬? ect combat algorithms in real time strategy
games and how it can stop movement mechanics from
becoming predictable in board games.


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