RPG Design: Hard or Soft Progression?
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Here's a snip:
#1 Discovery-based: You can't go to a place in the game until you either stumble across it manually via exploration, or perhaps learn about it from an in-game source in the process of a conversation or found map. The only real obstacle in this case is geography (or geography plus events). The advantage of discovery-based progression is that it rewards exploration (in all its forms), and makes the world feel much more open-ended. The disadvantage is that it can be frustrating to try and hunt for an entrance or exit, and that depending upon how it is set up it may allow parts of the game to be bypassed.
Examples: The dungeons in the Elder Scrolls games are perhaps the best examples of this. My favorite were the dungeons in Daggerfall - there were zillions of .m, though very few were discovered by stumbling across them (for me, at least). Instead I was always finding them in treasure maps and by quest. But the later games seemed more of an equal mix of discovering locations via direct exploration as by other means.
#2 Challenge-based: Theoretically the final battle or end goal is achievable fairly early in the game, but the difficulty is such that it is effectively impossible until the player's character or party has grown enough to overcome the challenges. The biggest advantage of this technique is that it puts the pace of the game and its difficulty level in the hands of the player. It also removes what may feel like '˜artificial' barriers to the endgame. However, it can be very frustrating if the player unknowingly goes to an overly difficult area (perhaps missing easier areas by accident). It can also encourage .rinding,' pretty low-quality entertainment.
Examples: Most roguelikes. Though finding the stairway to the next level is discovery-based, there's really nothing stopping you from just rushing down to the bottom of the dungeon and obtaining the final goal except the the fact that you'll be slaughtered in all kinds of horrible ways long before you get there. Many of the Might & Magic games were very much the same way the entire world was out there, ready for you to visit from a fairly early stage, but you WILL get clobbered visiting the wrong areas at too low level.
#3 Obstacle-based: A part of the game is blocked by a barrier that cannot be removed by brute force, but rather by a not (strictly) story-driven mechanism, such as finding a magical key, learning a mantra / password, or obtaining a means of travel that allows passage. It does allow the player to progress at their own pace, while forcing them to explore other areas to obtain whatever is needed to clear the obstacle. These can also serve as a reward in and of themselves, as it's kinda fun when a formerly impassible barrier suddenly ceases to be an obstacle. However, frustration can rise when it is unclear how to overcome the obstacle, or when the obstacle fails to make sense in the logic of the game for example, when characters can destroy dragons with ease, but a simple wooden door acts as an impenetrable barrier.
Examples: The Silver Serpent in Ultima III blocked passage to the island of Exodus unless you used the magic word, (Evocare.) And about half of any Dungeon Master-style game, including the recent indie release Legend of Grimrock, where puzzles and locks make up much of the gameplay.
#4 Plot-based: The player is moved around in the world or parts of the world become available based more directly by plot progression. This makes it very easy for the developer to control content for example, not allowing players to go back to a previous area and converse with people after a major event has occurred (thus not requiring tons of additional voiced scripts of dialog that have no direct bearing on the game). It is also easy for players particularly inexperienced players as there's no need to hunt for the (next) place to be. However, it can also feel very constrained and contrived as a player.
Examples: Alpha Protocol'˜s mission structure. Pretty much every RPG by Bioware in the last six years.
I listed these in order of (hardness) how strictly the game enforces the linearity of progression. In a discovery-based system, if you know where to look for these places, you can go there almost immediately. Challenge-based progression will let you go there if you are very good or very lucky. Obstacle-based progression requires you to do a little hunting around to find what you need to overcome or bypass the obstacle (although in older games like the Ultimas with text-based passwords, you could cheat and obtain the words with out-of-game information). And finally, plot-based progression is the ultimate in heavy-handedness: you just can't go there until the game gets to a particular stage.
