How to Properly Achieve

• Rajeev
• April 27, 2009
• blog
• 2 comments

If you look at my Xbox Live statistics you will see a disturbing trend. When it comes to games by Japanese developers, I have a low gamerscore and finish only a fraction of the available achievements. It could be chalked up to laziness, but amongst those I talk to there is a general consensus that whether listed as achievements or trophies (yeah you PS3 people are included too) Japanese developers just don’t know how to create achievements that are both fun and well… achievable. Now I could be wrong here, they may not “not know”, but instead they may not care, or they may be tailoring their work for a specific demographic. For all such reasons, the problem is simple, a vast number of their consumers, particularly those in the West, are finding rows of achievements unfulfilled and largely inferior gaming experiences in this area. The fix is simple, copy the Western developers to a large degree, they seem to have gotten the idea of achievements right and have given it the necessary amount of importance.

It is easy to see the importance that Western development houses place on achievements. For one, the release of achievements is itself a press release and the given impression is that the developers have slaved over getting the mix just right with their achievements. They aim to reward the player and at the same time push them. The most notable of this kind of attention to detail has been from Bungie, admittedly a Microsoft development house. But there is more! With title updates and content additions Western developers bestow more achievements on their consumer and once again a press release accompanies all of this (the limit for bonus content used to be 250GP, but is now 750GP, an indication of the important of DLC). All of this raises anticipation for the game, while raising awareness for those not in the know. In other words, it benefits the developer and their publishing house.

The problem with achievements in games that come from Japan? Mainly, time investment. The Japanese developers assume a level of investment in the game that most normal 20-35 year olds can’t deliver on, especially if they want a life and a job. And the problem is that the gaming audience has matured and those in their teens in the ’90s are now trying to keep up with the medium while moving forward in their life. Expecting a gamer to devote over 100 hours to your game in order to receive a 50GP score, essentially a meaningless value, is nothing short of torture. But you know what? I can take that… It is nice to reward the persistent and devoted gamer with a nice achievement. Where it falls apart, as in most Japanese games, is where 70-80% of the achievements fall in to this category. Suddenly achievements become a chore and their existence in the game goes into the meaningless, and oft-times frustrating, territory. The gamerscore/gamer card is an indication of the gamer and all those blank spaces detract from the online credibility that is perceived through the gamer card.

So how can this be solved? My answer is a simple set of bullet points:

• The main story/quest should count for something. About a 1/3rd to a 1/4th of the 1000GP should be allocated to the main quest, regardless of difficulty. From there points can be added for difficulty. The most important thing however is that on a successful playthrough the gamer should feel like they successfully accomplished something. Their gamerscore should then be reflected to demonstrate that. A lack of gamer points for the main storyline reflect, to me, that the developer has no confidence in their story.
• Easter eggs through the main story line should bring up a handful of points, but less than the main storyline.
• Side quests, depending on the nature of the game, can as a whole be worth more than your main storyline. However, no individual sidequest should bestow as many or more gamerpoints than your main quest/storyline. I think that this cheapens the main storyline.
• The original 1000GP gamerscore should not be divided into too many individual achievements. I would say that on average more than 60-70 achievements is overkill. It dilutes achievements into meaningless value and unless one were to accrue them in large quantities they will only serve to provide frustration. Moreover, a large number of 5GP and 10GP achievements are by and large meaningless. No one likes to see the congratulatory graphic pop up ten times in succession while playing a game.
• Let your achievement guide the user in creating a new experience. The developers of Crackdown created a number of fun and enticing gameplay moments just through the quest for achievements. Keeping a body afloat with rockets was not only entertaining, but surprisingly medium in difficulty. The achievements were integrated with the core gameplay, but also took the user on a new journey to explore the Crackdown world more fully.
• If your game is equally heavy on the single & multiplayer the gamer points can be then divided equally. However, at no time should they be lopsided in either direction, unless you as a developer want your game to concentrate more in one particular user experience.
• For multiplayer gamerpoints, points should not be given for rare moments of happenstance or chance. The worst example of this is Rockstar’s GTA 4, where an achievement is given for playing against a Rockstar developer. A moment that is completely out of the user’s control.
• To re-enforce the last statement as its own point, a gamerscore should always be achievable by the user and never be a product of chance. This takes away power from the gamer and destroys the fundamental basis in the idea of an “achievement”.

Hopefully these rules shouldn’t be too hard to follow. Japanese developers in particular need to follow these rules religiously to create the best experience for the gamer, regardless of platform. The fact of the matter is that “achievements” and “trophies” are just another part of the gameplay experience and one that should not be ignored by any developer. They help enhance the longevity of the game and help the gamer work through the dull moments after the main quest and before the downloadable content arrives. And after all, isn’t the point to get the gamer to play the game for as long as possible?