Hated Design Decisions

[Gusington]

I can vouch for the awesome power of a good mix tape. One or two even got me laid - by a real woman!

[Bison]

I can vouch for the awesome power of a good mix tape. One or two even got me laid - by a real woman!

Woot!

[Gusington]

^That's what both she and I said, at the time :)

[MetalDog]

Crafting.  Hate it.  It's never fun. At best it's innocuous.  Usually it's a chore.

+1

It's everywhere, now.   ::)

My current pet-peeve is the grinding lack of originality that game publishers/designers are mired in right now, but that's not really in the spirit of the thread. I'll just say that there's not much point in having a million game choices if nearly all of them suck, because they're just derivative crap.

Tell us how you REALLY feel!   ;) ;D O0

[dinsdale]

"Read a history book if you want historical accuracy" - Used to be yelled in the paradox forum, now it seems to be a core design philosophy of their games. Though I must admit, it's worked out really well for their sales though :)

Complexity through numbers - So many wargames do this; giving me 1000 units with little depth is not 100 times more complex than giving me 10 units, it just prolongs the agony of a turn and shortens the number of turns I will play before binning.

Complexity through obfuscation - "Our game is far too complex to publish the rules of combat, or supply, or anything, just learn by feel."

Rock paper scissors - Doesn't just apply to 'lite' games, far too many strategy games devolve to rock paper scissors with sprites.

Grand strategy with tactical battles or tactical battles with grand strategy. - It's hard enough to come up with one good game, let alone write two and stitch them together in a well paced, well thought out game. Just because Creative Assembly managed it doesn't mean that every developer can....but it doesnt stop them all from trying

[Bletchley_Geek]

Complexity through numbers - So many wargames do this; giving me 1000 units with little depth is not 100 times more complex than giving me 10 units, it just prolongs the agony of a turn and shortens the number of turns I will play before binning.

Complexity through obfuscation - "Our game is far too complex to publish the rules of combat, or supply, or anything, just learn by feel."

Rock paper scissors - Doesn't just apply to 'lite' games, far too many strategy games devolve to rock paper scissors with sprites.

Grand strategy with tactical battles or tactical battles with grand strategy. - It's hard enough to come up with one good game, let alone write two and stitch them together in a well paced, well thought out game. Just because Creative Assembly managed it doesn't mean that every developer can....but it doesnt stop them all from trying

Nice ones!

[BanzaiCat]

I absolutely despise in-game/in-app purchases. If I buy a game I want access to it all. I'm not talking about DLC; I get that to an extent. But not "click here for more war bucks" or whatever the frig some games do. This is one of the reasons I hardly peruse the App store anymore - they're pretty much all like that. If I do look and see "In App Purchases," I move on.

[Gusington]

^Ooh good [bad] one.

[Swatter]

I'm not a fan of game designs where the core of the game is about lack of something that severely limits a player's options. The most annoying form of this design philosophy manifests itself in a lack of movement for your pieces on the board. I am thinking more along the lines of war and strategy games here. For example, if your game is about the Axis blitzkrieg in Russia, making it extremely difficult to move your pieces is annoying and counter-intuitive.

I prefer game designs, where its appropriate, that emphasize freedom of movement and on-the-fly flexibility. 99 times out of 100 I would prefer to out maneuver someone rather than out activate someone. After all, combat is chaotic and fluid and game designs that turn that process into a game of chess miss out of the unpredictable nature of war.

[MengJiao]

   The ongoing Xcom 2 thread brought up issues regarding difficulty and turn limits. Leaving AI out of the conversation...what are your 3 most hated designer's intentional game design decisions?  My three are:

Turn limits (i.e. Xcom 2)
Save Points rather than save anywhere (i.e. some shooters)
Locked battles (i.e. original Scourge of War: Gettysburg)

I hate those and I'll add (as do others)

No useful single player practice mode This is incredibly annoying.  For example, Naval Action's actions just take too long most of the time, but a savable practice mode would be a marvelous game -- it has AI and instanced battles so why not just let people do that if they want?

[undercovergeek]

In principle I'm a hater of timed missions and escort missions

However xcom2s timed missions make sense and are not too bad - yes you make some rash choices but that's the point of the rpg element - a guerilla force doesn't get 2 and a half days to blow up a transmitter it gets a small window of opportunity and that's what the game represents imho

Will never like escort missions

[BanzaiCat]

Good one. I've hated escort missions since I played the first X-Wing games on the PC back in the mid 90s. I don't like being tied down and being punished for not having omnipotent perception to see every sneaky thing coming.

[MIGMaster]

I hate mini-games - If I'm on a role killing evil (insert enemy units here) I don't want to stop to re-wire a reading lamp or figure out how to break 30 levels of encryption on a safe which holds the "green" key card !!!  >:(

[mirth]

I hate mini-games - If I'm on a role killing evil (insert enemy units here) I don't want to stop to re-wire a reading lamp or figure out how to break 30 levels of encryption on a safe which holds the "green" key card !!!  >:(

Ugh. Mini-games do suck.

[BanzaiCat]

I hate mini-games - If I'm on a role killing evil (insert enemy units here) I don't want to stop to re-wire a reading lamp or figure out how to break 30 levels of encryption on a safe which holds the "green" key card !!!  >:(

Ugh. Mini-games do suck.

Not always. I enjoyed the mini-games in Covert Action. They're few and far between, but when done right they can add a lot to a game.