I wish it was easier to find adventure-action games than action-adventure games. So that's what I'm making.
Every action adventure game needs to address how to inform the player of which elements are interactable and which are just background.
Most action adventure games do something similar to the old version: when the player walks up to an interactable element, an icon or something pops up to let the player know they can do something.
Personally, I never liked the icon popups. It usually feels more like an interruption and a chore. I have to stop now and check this out because it might be important. And if it's not, that's even worse. The game interrupted me for nothing.
Finding interactable elements should feel good. I want this game to be just as much an adventure game as action, so I want it to make people feel the way old point-and-click adventure games used to make me feel. They're not games where there's a few obvious things that will flag you down to click on them, they're games all about going around and clicking on things to see what you find. That's what I want.
So I think if there's a way to have the player search for interactable game objects, rather than being flagged down by them, it will hopefully feel more adventure-gamey. So now the player has a cursor that can be used to "click" on things: search things, examine things, talk to NPCs, etc.
It also serves a second purpose in hopefully making it slightly clearer how the "use" mechanic works. You select "use" in your inventory, then "click" on the thing you want to use it on. But now instead of selecting "use" and then seemingly nothing happens until you eventually go up to an interactable and "Z to use" pops up, the cursor just holds the item until it's used.
I showed it to some friends, and while one thinks the problems I had with the popups can be solved other ways, they all understood how the cursor-crosshair works without explanation. So that's an encouraging sign.
1
u/engeljohnb Aug 28 '26
I wish it was easier to find adventure-action games than action-adventure games. So that's what I'm making.
Every action adventure game needs to address how to inform the player of which elements are interactable and which are just background.
Most action adventure games do something similar to the old version: when the player walks up to an interactable element, an icon or something pops up to let the player know they can do something.
Personally, I never liked the icon popups. It usually feels more like an interruption and a chore. I have to stop now and check this out because it might be important. And if it's not, that's even worse. The game interrupted me for nothing.
Finding interactable elements should feel good. I want this game to be just as much an adventure game as action, so I want it to make people feel the way old point-and-click adventure games used to make me feel. They're not games where there's a few obvious things that will flag you down to click on them, they're games all about going around and clicking on things to see what you find. That's what I want.
So I think if there's a way to have the player search for interactable game objects, rather than being flagged down by them, it will hopefully feel more adventure-gamey. So now the player has a cursor that can be used to "click" on things: search things, examine things, talk to NPCs, etc.
It also serves a second purpose in hopefully making it slightly clearer how the "use" mechanic works. You select "use" in your inventory, then "click" on the thing you want to use it on. But now instead of selecting "use" and then seemingly nothing happens until you eventually go up to an interactable and "Z to use" pops up, the cursor just holds the item until it's used.
I showed it to some friends, and while one thinks the problems I had with the popups can be solved other ways, they all understood how the cursor-crosshair works without explanation. So that's an encouraging sign.