'Losing For The Win' In Games

simoniker writes "Designer Ben Schneider (Empire Earth, EyeToy: AntiGrav, Titan Quest) has written a new article exploring the possibility of enticing your players through the power of defeat. From the piece: 'Some of the most memorable moments in games depend heavily on reversals to kick their dramatic arcs forward, from Planetfall to Fable to Beyond Good & Evil to Deus Ex. And yet, as an industry, we clearly have a lot to learn — and a lot to invent. So, then, how do you draw a clear line between player failure and dramatic reversal? It is a question well worth pondering.' In other words, if the game forces the player to get his ass kicked, can the player ever forgive it, or is it the key to some really interesting moments when used in a positive way?"

Comments

Re:uhh

[President_Camacho]

I'm a big fan of action games where you can level your dude too.

Then you should check out Crackdown, which comes out next week. The demo is crazy fun.

Re:uhh

[Anonymous Coward]

RTFA. The guy mentions Ninja Gaiden 1.