Wednesday, April 1st, 2009
SOURCE: GAMASUTRA
Check out the most recent feature on Gamasutra.com where one of our lead designers and I discuss Achievements in games.
Achievements are “like a topping on a pizza,” explains Robert Bowling, community manager at Infinity Ward. They enhance the gameplay experience and reward dedicated players for their effort and skill.
That is why unlocking all the potential points in a Call of Duty game is such a grueling process. They are badges of honor — particularly achievements like “Mile High Club,” says Bowling.
In reference to the question, “Do you design the game first, then worry about achievements, or do you design around achievements from the start?” - Achievements are “like toppings on a pizza”, as to say they are purely meant to enhance gameplay, not determine it. You make the pizza taste fantastic with it’s core ingredients, then you work on how to enhance that flavor in the same way you make the core game great, then comes the process of adding the extras.
Only 2.8 percent of the 10 million Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare players who have ever logged into Xbox Live have earned the achievement, which is awarded for completing COD4 on veteran difficulty.
Achievements like “Mile High Club” should be rare — perhaps only one per game, Bowling explains. “It is one of the hardest achievements to achieve and you lose some of that weight when they are all that hard. It would be more frustrating than fun.”
Players, however, complained that the achievements in Call of Duty 2 were too difficult to obtain, says Call of Duty 4 lead designer Zeid Rieke. All but three of the 13 achievements had to be completed on veteran difficulty. So the studio compromised for COD4.
What are your thoughts on it?
Read more about what we said as well as input from several other great developers on Gamasutra.com - Unlocking Achievements: Rewarding Skill with Player Incentives
Tags: achievements, editorial, feature, gamasutra
Posted in achievements, call of duty 4 modern warfare, infinity ward, interview, video games, xbox 360, xbox live | Comments
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
Hey Everyone –
The PS3 Feature Patch for European / Oceania players has hit today. Thank you to SCEE for all their work getting that out as fast as they can. I saw a lot of unjustified flaming on the boards of this last night since the US patch hit. I want to make it clear that SCEE did everything by the book and was able to get the patch out to the EU players as quickly as was feasibly possible so let’s cut them some slack. Regretfully we’re all on different timezones, so when the patch came up for release the US was still in the working hours and was able to get it out immediately while in UK time it was much later in day and not feasible for them to release immediately in line with the US timezone. Hopefully everyone understands that as I hate to see someone take slack for something that was out of their control, credit is due for them working so hard to get this out to you guys as quickly, I think an overnight turnaround from the US patch is comendable with the time zones.
That said, the patch is out for US / EU / Oceania users so you can enjoy the new kill cams, recently met players, mute options and more.
Tags: call of duty 4, cod4, feature, modern warfare, patch, ps3, sony
Posted in Playstation 3, call of duty 4 modern warfare, patch | Comments
Monday, March 17th, 2008
That’s right… just received word from Sony that they are on the final stages of certifying the PS3 Feature patch and will be definitely be seeing it go live to users this week and I may be getting an update as soon as tonight as to the exact time to expect it. I’m thinking you’ll be able to enjoy all the new features as soon as the next few days, but I’ll update you with I have a firm answer on that.
But the official word is, it’s coming this week for sure, possibly very soon.
Tags: call of duty 4, cod4, feature, lolcats, modern warfare, patch
Posted in Playstation 3, call of duty 4 modern warfare | Comments
