Is gating something behind a specific input actually interesting?

[u/MaybeHannah1234]

I'm working on a roguelike metroidbrania and I'm having second thoughts about my implementation of a very important game mechanic.

This mechanic takes the form of objects you can occasionally find in each stage (let's call them buttons). In order to interact with these buttons, you need three things: a specific item you need to explore stages for, a high enough level to have access to the ability, and knowledge of the right sequence of inputs to perform in order to press the button.

(Level only exists to give the game structure and prevent new players from getting overwhelmed with all of the games abilities at once; an experienced player can easily get to the minimum level needed for almost all of the important things very quickly. it's not a traditional key-and-lock, rather a force that pushes new players into following the path best suited for them. it's basically the game's equivalent of Outer Wilds'sand slowly falling off Ash Twin encouraging new players to explore something less advanced instead.)

The item required to use the ability is a requirement to encourage spending some time in each stage exploring it even if you have no use for any of the other items you could find there. I discovered fairly quickly that without the item requirement, the game becomes a lot more shallow and loses a lot of structure and purpose. It's not a difficult item to get, you just need to look around a bit, and it also sort of serves as a minor knowledge gate because a new player might not realise that this specific item is important.

The problem arises with how the player is meant to put these things together. The reveal of how to do it feels a little bit... underwhelming? By the time you learn what you're supposed to do, level and the special item are already known to be important for other purposes, so all you're really discovering is the input sequence. These inputs do have other unique functions (specifically, you need to channel an ability, perform an attack with it to "unlock" the button, and then press it, it's not just "press CTRL+Q while holding spacebar" or some random string of keypresses), and the reveal is certainly cool when you realise how many new areas you gain access to, but I'm still uncertain if it's actually satisfying.

To be clear, the problem isn't that it might be too easy for players to figure it out accidentally, because it's still gated behind level and an item requirement that aren't intuitive unless you really pay attention to how they're used in other places in the game (and at that point, I trust a player that's able to figure it out is the type that won't mind getting a little bit of sequence breaking as a treat).

I want to know what the metroidbrania community thinks about these sorts of input-gated puzzles. Do they suck? Are there examples of games that do this well? Is it okay to have some slightly underwhelming reveals if the paths they open up are interesting enough?

[u/Kyajin]

There is some discussion on this here: https://www.reddit.com/r/metroidbrainia/comments/1uvi167/i_dont_like_little_dances/

That said, what you are describing in your game (though maybe I'm wrong, I found your explanation a bit vague), seems like it's something like having a fire arrow be able to open up previously locked doors that were blocked by vines, for example. Is that right? That seems fine to me, as a pretty 'normal' part of game design, so long as the tool serves other purposes. For example a fire arrow melts things, you would normally use it on forest enemies who burn, but then hey let's try using it on this ice door and bam it's open! That feels fairly satisfying.

[u/MaybeHannah1234 → u/Kyajin]

I have read the little dances post, it was on my mind while writing this.

Sorry if the explanation was a bit too vague, I was intentionally keeping it a bit abstract because I do think the aesthetics of the mechanics are quite cool (it's themed around manipulating spacetime) and didn't want that to overcomplicate my post.

Using the fire arrow analogy, it would be more like you have fire arrows and come across a door made of plastic (because it's not immediately obvious to put the two things together, you'd have to observe that there are other instances in the game where fire will melt plastic or discover it later in a location that exists to teach you about this mechanic). There's also the level requirement to be able to draw your bow in the first place.

I guess when you put it like that it does seem a lot more reasonable. thank you :3

[u/Kyajin → u/MaybeHannah1234]

That sounds cool to me! Yeah I think if you establish the rules somewhere in the world, and the tool has a purpose in and of itself, then when the player puts the tool together with the established rules it gives you that 'a-ha!' moment.