Page 48 - Developer

design of the times // damion schUbert

Depth vs. BreaDth

Does your game neeD to go Deeper?

Ultima Online. everQUest.
Ultima Online and everQUest represent two very different game philosophies. ultima OnlinE’s creators tried very hard to create a virtual
world with physics and interactions that mimicked the real world, so players could interact with each other in ways meant to model
reality: You can chop down trees, dye clothes, build houses, attack almost anyone anywhere, and steal anything that isn’t nailed down.
By comparison, EvErQuEst be too simple for the audience). EvErQuEst is a game in their genre is resources and focus on
is a simple game, not newly invented massively game about depth. one that combines all of building other systems.
much more than a combat multiplayer genre. the best elements of other This is especially
simulator designed to mimic As it turned out, the pitfall of games, because they don’t important when you
the basics of combat found EvErQuEst easily beat BreaDth recognize the underlying consider how your
in tabletop board games ultima OnlinE’s numbers, » Most junior designers costs of all of those systems. multiple game systems
and old online Multiuser and a few years later, a come into the industry Most triple-A games that are supposed to interact
Dungeons (MUDs). Combat rematch of the two MMO favoring breadth. They want actually ship (and most with each other. For a game
in EvErQuEst is very deep design philosophies paired to design the perfect game, experienced designers and that is about breadth, the
and intricate compared to star Wars GalaxiEs against and they want to do so by producers), however, favor multitude of game systems
that in ultima OnlinE, with WOrld Of Warcraft—with throwing every possible depth over breadth for a can interact with each other
far more ways for players to a repeat of the same end feature under the sun into few reasons. One is simply in many often-unexpected
attack and manipulate their result. As it turned out, the design soup. This is a matter of resources—it’s ways. In some cases, this
enemies. However, combat ultima OnlinE has a lot of especially true in massively hard enough to even do one can be a good thing—
aside, EvErQuEst was features, but many of those multiplayer game design, game system extremely something that designers
perceived to not be a very features don’t have a lot of where the possibilities well. If you’re trying to make like to call emergent
feature-rich game. Most depth to them; it is broad, of what you can do in a first-person shooter, for behavior. Emergent behavior
of the world interactions rather than deep. EvErQuEst a game is effectively example, you are going to can be wonderful to behold,
in ultima OnlinE aren’t in has fewer features, but a unbounded—a virtual world have a hard enough time as the fans will undoubtedly
EvErQuEst, and when they combat model that is very can already incorporate getting the basics of making surprise you with their
are, they aren’t particularly deep (and became deeper almost any feature of the a deep and engaging FPS ingenuity. However, the
deep or fleshed out—to the as new boss mechanics real world. Even worse, that can be on the same more systems you have,
extent that many observers were added to respond most game genre devotees playing field as call Of the more time you’ll need to
felt that EvErQuEst would to an increasingly savvy imagine that the perfect duty without losing all the spend on QA and balance,

46 game developer | october 2012