DVD style "chapter skip" in gaming

[PeteJ]

Alone in the Dark:

Another achievement is linked to whether or not the player skips. We want everybody to be able to finish our game, so one of the other new features we've added is the ability to skip sections using a DVD-style menu if you get stuck, but always at a cost, and achievements is one way to reward players who don't skip.

I think it's a great idea, would have let me get passed horrible difficulty spikes in games and allow me to see sections I'd otherwise never see.

Thoughts?

[riotus]

I can think of a few plus for it, mainly due to difficulty spikes, but also due to replaying the game. Many a time ive played a game for a second or third time and wished i could just skip a section due to poor design or as above.

[MattyD]

I was reading about this in GamesTM today. The game is structured like a TV series complete with 'previously on Alone in The Dark' bits, showing highlights of the cutscenes as well as recorded gameplay from your last save. I don't see any reason why this shouldn't eventually become standard for this sort of game TBH. It'll be helpful both to new or casual gamers and to those of us who've grown up and found it hard to devote the time to playing lengthy games. I've had one or two games spoiled for me recently when I couldn't play them for a while and forgot where I was, and just couldn't face going back to them. A feature like this should help.

The ability to skip sections however isn't something I'd really be interested in although I can see how it will help some people. The statistic for the number of people who actually complete games is pretty low and that's a shame as it's sure to diminish most customer's enjoyment of their purchase. Allowing casual players to skip difficult sections will open more genres to the mass market without hurting traditional players at all - everyone's happy, in theory at least.

[EvilBoris]

I guess this is a good idea if the game is a meaty enough experience, the difficulty/longevity thing is always tough to get right. There are plenty of games that no matter how great they are get criticised for being too short, one remedy to that is to make the game more difficult to make you endure dying several times, but in that process you can lock things out.

It'll be interested to see how they handle it and how much you actually can skip.

[jamesy]

That "previously alone in the dark" style thing your speaking of sounds like a great idea to me. I have countless numbers of games which i'm only about half way through and by the time I get back to them I have no idea what is happening with regards to the story or what I am supposed to do next. A feature like that would help a lot.

[mmcg]

The upcoming Lost game also has the "previously" feature and is structured like a TV series in episodes.

I think it's a pretty good idea. Countless times I've wanted to skip past crap bits.

[chopemon]

I fully support this idea.

Games are the only medium that lock content away from customers even though they own it.

Think about it, when you by a DVD, book, music CD or loaf of bread you own it. All of it. You are free to do with it what you want. No one imposes that you must start at the beginning and only see the end once you have consumed the media in between. Who the hell are developers to dictate what I do with a product I own?

Think about Guitar Hero. It is total bull crap that songs are locked away and you are forced to unlock them. Same with racing games. A lot of people just want to drive the fastest car in the game on the most awesome track. Why the hell can't they straight out of the box?

I had a discussion about this with a fellow designer and he was totally against the idea because you would spoil the progression of the story. That argument doesn't really stand up when you can skip or fast forward parts of a movie, a medium that is far more story based than games. And of course most game stories are garbage so the casual gamer who this most benefits doesn't care about the joke of a story wrapped round most games.

It would also eliminate the problem of stupid levels in the middle of games that ruin the experience and make you put the game away, never to be played again because some pig headed designer didn't cater the level to the gamer.

Well done Eden, hopefully more games will follow suit.

[Profit]

Good idea - or just modify the testers level select mode to be in the final game.

[MikeRox]

Sounds great to me! I'm sick of getting to an impossible boss, to have it completely ruin the game for me because I can't progress any further.