Provide Players with Multiple Options
On this page
- Offer Players a Selection of Activities
- Following the Main Plot and Completing Side Quests
- Completing Objectives and Exploring the Game World Freely
- Traveling to Destinations
- Backtracking
- Using Tactics to Complete Objectives
- Improving Virtual Skills
- Interacting with the Player Character During Conversations
- Order in Which Certain Actions Can Be Performed
- Interacting with Different Objects During a Given Activity
- Customizing Rewards
- Taking Different Actions with Different Consequences
- Using a Given Reward for Different Purposes
- Customizing Scenarios
Although many players are inclined towards games featuring highly non-linear storylines, implementing such games with a large number of options demands considerable effort, time, and financial investment. It is important to recognize that each player will explore a different subset of the available options. For instance, it is unrealistic to expect every player to explore every unit in a strategy game, reach every possible ending in an action game, or experience all dialogue outcomes in an RPG.
Designing multiple options to be genuinely engaging for players is a challenging task. If, during playtesting, certain options are found to be unexciting or underwhelming, it may be more beneficial to exclude them from the game entirely. It is preferable to present a smaller number of well-crafted options than to frustrate players with an abundance of mediocre ones.
When considering the kinds of options your game may offer, refer to the following list:
Offer Players a Selection of Activities
Your game should provide activities that complement and support its narrative. These activities can reflect player expectations based on your game’s genre, or they can be entirely original. By analyzing common activities across popular genres, you can better understand what players are accustomed to and what innovations you might introduce.
When deciding which activities to incorporate, ensure they justify the development time and resources they require. Avoid adding numerous features simply for the sake of quantity. However, if your game feels lacking in engagement, it may be a sign that the range of available activities is too narrow. Strive to ensure that every activity is meaningful and enjoyable.
The examples provided below are not exhaustive but serve to illustrate common activities across various genres.
Common Activities in Action Games
Action games focus on physical challenges, placing players at the center of intense gameplay. Such games typically allow players to:
Move throughout the game world: walk, sprint, crawl, drive, ride, or fly.
Explore new locations, characters, and rewards.
Follow the story progression.
Engage in combat with opponents.
Manage inventory: collect and utilize various objects.
Interact with objects: such as opening doors.
Common Activities in Adventure Games
Adventure games emphasize interactive storytelling. Such games typically allow players to:
Traverse the game environment.
Discover and explore new areas and characters.
Follow the story.
Manage inventory items.
Communicate with non-player characters through dialogue.
Interact with objects in the environment.
Solve puzzles by interpreting clues and unlocking paths.
Common Activities in Role-Playing Games
Role-playing games highlight player agency in shaping a character’s journey. Players can:
Navigate the game world.
Explore areas for characters, locations, and rewards.
Advance the narrative.
Develop their character’s skills and attributes.
Engage in combat.
Manage inventory: collect, use, or repair items.
Craft useful items: including medicine, weapons, armor, clothing, and explosives.
Modify items: such as upgrading weapons or armor.
Scrape items: to salvage components.
Interact with non-player characters: trade, exchange gear, or converse.
Interact with the environment.
Solve complex puzzles.
Common Activities in Strategy Games
Strategy games emphasize planning and tactical decision-making. Players can:
Explore the game map for strategic advantages.
Follow the main storyline.
Combat opposing forces.
Manage and maneuver units: attacking, healing, or repairing.
Collect and trade resources.
Construct buildings and recruit new units.
Research technologies and upgrades.
Maintain population.
Following the Main Plot and Completing Side Quests
Many players are motivated to complete quests. Define main quests for those focused on the central narrative and offer side quests for players interested in deeper world-building and storytelling. Allow players to choose whether they want to engage solely with the main storyline or explore optional side quests. Some players, due to time constraints or different gaming preferences, may only pursue the main storyline, while others will enjoy completing both main and side quests.
Completing Objectives and Exploring the Game World Freely
Providing clear objectives at the beginning of the game can serve as strong motivation for players, especially those who prefer goal-oriented gameplay. Conversely, there are players who enjoy exploring every area of the game world. It is beneficial to strike a balance by providing structured objectives while also allowing for optional exploration. You can decide whether to gradually unlock areas or make the entire game world available from the beginning.
Example: Action Game
Consider an action game where players can choose at the outset whether to follow the story or confront the first group of enemies—or even avoid them entirely. Players interested in testing combat mechanics may engage in battle immediately without being compelled to advance the story.
Example: RPG Game
Imagine a role-playing game in which, during a quest, the player encounters a non-player character who is not relevant to the current objective. The player has the option to initiate a conversation with this NPC, which is triggered automatically when the player comes within a short distance of the character.
However, if the player is being pursued—for any reason—and needs to escape from their pursuers, they should not be compelled to watch a cutscene in which their character abruptly stops and begins a conversation with the NPC. In such a scenario, the player should be given the agency to choose whether to continue fleeing or to initiate a dialogue.
Traveling to Destinations
Refer to Allow players to choose different itineraries to reach their destination for further information.
Backtracking
Some players generally prioritize rapid progression through the game’s levels, whereas others tend to revisit previously explored locations at specific moments. This behavior is motivated by a variety of reasons—for instance, gaining access to a secret stash for which they have only recently acquired the key, returning to a local vendor who had been previously unavailable, or safely entering an area that was previously too dangerous, now made accessible thanks to newly acquired equipment.
Even if you design your levels to remain accessible for a certain period during gameplay, this alone is insufficient to encourage players to return. You must provide them with compelling reasons to revisit these areas. Consider the following approaches:
Introduce new side quests that lead players back through previously explored regions, but ensure these areas are not left unchanged.
Surprise players with unexpected threats.
Example:
Reposition existing enemies or introduce new adversaries. This presents players with fresh challenges and compels them to adopt different tactics than those previously used.
Modify the physical environment.
Example:
These modifications might include blocked pathways, collapsed bridges, or flooded areas, all of which require players to discover alternative routes through the level.
Alter environmental conditions.
Example:
Changes in weather, reduced oxygen levels, fire or smoke hazards, or diminished lighting. Such variations create new challenges and experiences during exploration.
Reward players with valuable discoveries.
Example:
Access to a special ability or a unique piece of equipment found in a specific location within a previously visited area.
It is equally important to avoid encouraging backtracking when it is not warranted. For instance:
Players should not find themselves in situations where they follow a particular path only to reach a dead end, even after extensive searching. If this occurs, it suggests that the game is not providing sufficient guidance regarding the next objective or direction. However, if the path is significantly long, consider offering a minor reward at its end to acknowledge the player’s time and effort spent exploring it.
Avoid artificially extending the total playtime by incentivizing the collection of low-value rewards such as inconsequential abilities, collectibles, or power-ups. In contrast, offering long-anticipated and meaningful rewards—such as a powerful piece of equipment—serves as a worthwhile incentive for backtracking.
Using Tactics to Complete Objectives
Game designers should avoid compelling players to utilize a single, predefined tactic in order to achieve their objectives. Instead, it is preferable to offer players a range of tactical options, thereby allowing them to choose the approach that best aligns with their preferred play style.
Example:
Consider a mission in a first-person shooter game where the player is presented with multiple viable strategies for successful completion.
The first option involves completing the objective without triggering any alarms. Triggering an alarm would not result in mission failure, but would instead make the objective significantly more difficult to complete. In this scenario, the player may opt to undertake the mission alone, leaving their companions in a nearby hideout. The player could select from a wide variety of weapons with customizable attachments and choose light equipment to maintain high mobility, reduce noise, and move swiftly. This strategy would require the player to act methodically and carefully plan each move to avoid direct confrontations.
The second option entails completing the mission with the assistance of companions. The player, along with their allies, would be equipped with heavy gear, which would reduce mobility and weapon handling efficiency. In this approach, stealth would be abandoned in favor of direct confrontation, and the team would proceed by engaging enemies head-on.
Both of these tactical approaches are valid and enjoyable, and each provides a distinct gameplay experience.
Additional examples are presented below to further illustrate the concept:
Example: Gathering a Large Force
Provide players with a variety of tactics to assemble an army capable of confronting the enemy:
Players can produce units in structures they construct themselves.
Players can summon reinforcements from off-map locations.
Players can convert neutral or enemy units to join their own forces.
Example: Revealing Enemy Positions
Offer players multiple strategies to detect enemy locations:
Players can utilize powers or abilities that can be manually activated at specific intervals.
Players can deploy their own units to scout ahead.
Players can employ blind fire to provoke the enemy into revealing their positions.
Example: Reaching a Designated Location
Allow players to choose from several methods of reaching a marked destination on the map:
Players can proceed on foot.
Players can travel by horseback.
Players can swim across bodies of water.
Players can utilize a fast travel system.
Improving Virtual Skills
Players should be allowed to enhance their character’s skills without being compelled to follow a specific play style. Consider the following example.
Imagine a single-player role-playing game in which players have the opportunity to begin improving their character’s statistics from the very start of the game, without being required to follow the main storyline. Players could continue developing their character’s abilities until they reach their maximum potential. Consequently, they would gain a significant advantage in completing both main and side quests, as their character would possess exceptional strength. This is acceptable, as players generally expect that by investing time into upgrading their character, their performance will improve, while the abilities of their opponents will either remain static or progress at a slower rate. However, it would be inappropriate if defeating enemies remained equally difficult regardless of whether the character had been enhanced, due to enemy progression scaling at the same rate as the player’s character. Such design would undermine the value of character development and diminish the sense of achievement.
Interacting with the Player Character During Conversations
Conversations between the player character and non-player characters should be designed to be interactive. It is not necessary to create cutscenes that the player passively watches as if viewing a film. Instead, developers should allow players to retain control of their character during dialogue sequences. For instance, players could be permitted to look around, move freely within the environment, or access their inventory while the conversation is taking place.
Players should also be given the opportunity, at carefully selected moments, to choose what their character says, thereby allowing them to influence the progression and outcome of the game. Additionally, players should be able to skip portions of the dialogue that are not essential for understanding the core narrative. If, for any reason, a player wishes or needs to end a conversation prematurely, the game should accommodate that decision by providing the option to exit the interaction at any time.
Order in Which Certain Actions Can Be Performed
The following examples illustrate how to increase non-linearity in gameplay.
Example: Eliminate the Boss
The player is assigned the task of eliminating an enemy boss. However, the game does not specify the boss’s exact location. Instead, the player is provided with information about the general area in which the boss may be found. The player is given two options: either begin searching for the boss independently or complete a series of optional tasks that will reveal the precise location of the boss. If the player replays the mission, they will already know where to find the boss. Therefore, it may be worth considering whether the tasks designed to reveal the boss’s exact location should remain optional, since the core objective is to eliminate the boss.
Takeaway:
Clearly distinguish between objectives that are mandatory and those that are optional.
Help players understand the difference by categorizing goals into primary objectives (e.g., “Eliminate the boss”) and secondary objectives (e.g., optional tasks to determine the boss’s location).
Example: Capture the Strategic Point
The player receives the objective of capturing a strategic point on the map. Since the player is replaying the mission, they already know that the enemy will launch an attack shortly after the point is captured. Anticipating this, the player decides to lay mines and set up defensive positions in preparation. Knowing that enemy units will spawn in the upper right corner of the map, the player sends all units to that area, as this offers a tactical advantage compared to defending the strategic point directly. The game allows the player to move to the enemy’s spawn area in advance. This enables skilled players to place mines and position their units effectively before the attack begins.
Takeaway:
Do not prevent players from using tactics that could make the game easier or more strategic for them. For instance, avoid the use of invisible walls that force players to remain in a specific location.
Avoid penalizing players for selecting a tactic that differs from the one originally envisioned by the game designer.
Example: Visit Town A; Visit Town B
The player receives two quests: the first involves traveling to Town A, and the second involves traveling to Town B. Since the outcome of one quest does not affect the other, the game permits the player to choose the order in which to undertake them.
Interacting with Different Objects During a Given Activity
Players will engage in a variety of activities within your game. To offer a greater sense of freedom and to make these activities more engaging and non-linear, consider providing them with the following interaction options:
Example: Moving Across the Game World
Allow players to explore your game world freely. In order to reach their destination, they should be able to interact with a variety of environmental features, such as:
Walking across the ground.
Climbing ladders and platforms.
Traversing rooftops.
Swimming through bodies of water.
Example: Killing and Destroying
Permit players to attack or destroy a variety of target types, including:
Living beings such as humans and animals.
Inanimate objects such as crates, doors, windows, or environmental obstacles.
Example: Solving Puzzles
To raise a ramp and progress through a level, players must place crates on one side to elevate the opposite end. Rather than restricting them to the use of crates alone, allow players to utilize alternative items, such as stones, pieces of metal, or equipment from their inventory. This increases player agency and adds variety to puzzle-solving.
Customizing Rewards
Customization enables players to create and personalize rewards, offering them various options to tailor outcomes that reflect their gameplay style and aesthetic preferences. The extent of customization depends on the tools and systems provided by the game designers. The primary goal of customization is to empower players to develop rewards that suit their individual strategies and visual tastes.
Taking Different Actions with Different Consequences
Players generally expect that their choices will lead to distinct outcomes, and that the game world will respond accordingly. Below are several examples of actions players may take during gameplay, along with the resulting consequences:
Example: Change of Tactics in the Defense of the City
In a real-time strategy game, the player’s objective is to defend a city for 30 minutes. Initially, the player chooses to stay within the city and hold the line. However, after observing that enemy waves consistently approach from the same direction, the player infers that the enemy base—presumably producing these units—is located in that direction. The player then decides to take the majority of their units and launch a preemptive strike on the enemy base, rather than continuing the defensive strategy. This action is risky due to the limited number of available units, but the challenge is appealing.
Remaining in the city would allow the player to fortify defenses and minimize the risk of mission failure.
Conversely, launching an attack on the enemy base while leaving only a small force to defend the city could result in the city being overrun, leading to mission failure. However, if the player succeeds in both defending the city and destroying the enemy base, the mission could be completed ahead of time, offering a more rewarding and satisfying experience due to the increased level of risk. If the player’s offensive fails and most units are lost, the few remaining defenders would likely be unable to withstand the continued enemy assaults.
Takeaway:
Do not restrict players to a single tactic.
Avoid punishing players for experimenting with alternative strategies that diverge from the intended path—for instance, by implementing invisible walls that unnecessarily restrict player movement within the level.
Example: Player Character Responses During Conversations That Affect Access to Side Quests
During a conversation with a non-player character, the player may choose whether to offer assistance. If the player agrees to help, certain other NPCs may become hostile, and the player will no longer be able to trade with them. However, helping the original NPC unlocks a special level where the player can meet the character’s allies, thereby gaining access to multiple side quests with attractive rewards.
On the other hand, if the player declines to help, the requesting NPC becomes angry and withholds access to additional side quests. Nevertheless, the player retains the ability to trade with the other NPCs.
Example: Player Character Responses During Conversations That Affect Virtual Skills
Building on the previous example, assisting NPCs can result in the player character gaining improvements in virtual charisma and speaking skills. These enhancements can lead to more favorable outcomes in future conversations—such as persuading NPCs to reveal important information or negotiating better prices with vendors.
Conversely, consistently refusing to help NPCs may result in a reduction of these skills, negatively impacting future dialogues and trading opportunities.
Example: Killing an NPC That Affects the Behavior of Other NPCs Towards the Player
When the player chooses to kill a particular NPC, the consequences are far-reaching. Friends and protectors of the slain NPC become hostile towards the player character.
If the player had refrained from killing the NPC, relationships with other NPCs, including the guards, would have remained unchanged.
Example: Killing an NPC That Causes the Player Character to Lose Virtual Skills
If the player destroys the house of an NPC in a town, their virtual charisma may decline significantly, resulting in the player no longer being welcome in that area. Guards and residents alike will attack the player character, and no merchants or townspeople will agree to conduct business with them.
Choosing not to destroy the house would have preserved the existing relationships between the player and the town’s inhabitants.
Example: Weapon Manipulation and NPC Behavior Towards the Player Character
The player discovers a weapon lying on the ground in the city and considers the potential consequences of picking it up.
If no one witnesses the action, the player may continue without incident.
If a guard observes the act, the player character is arrested and taken to prison.
If the player later attempts to sell the weapon, the merchant may recognize its true owner and accuse the player of theft.
If the player picks up the weapon and later discards it in the presence of guards, this act is also treated as suspicious, and the player character is imprisoned.
Using a Given Reward for Different Purposes
Example: Weapons
In this example, the reward is a “weapon”.
Allow players to use weapons for various purposes, such as:
Eliminating enemies in order to progress through an enemy base.
Destroying obstacles, such as breaking locks or burning fallen trees, to clear a path.
Damaging electrical generators to cut off power to an enemy base.
Example: In-Game Currency
In this example, the reward is “in-game currency”.
Provide players with the opportunity to use the currency in several ways, including:
Purchasing equipment to enhance damage output.
Bribing non-player characters to obtain confidential or secret information.
Storing currency in a secure location, allowing players to preserve their funds for future use.
Example: Experience Points
In this example, the reward is “experience points”.
Allow players to utilize experience points in a variety of ways, including:
Unlocking rewards such as abilities, powers, skills, and weapons to increase the effectiveness of their character in combat.
- Unlocking additional characters to explore different playstyles and strategies.
Unlocking new levels to provide access to fresh scenarios and gameplay experiences.
Customizing Scenarios
As players often desire to approach scenarios in unique and varied ways, offer them a selection of customizable parameters, including:
Initial resources.
Weather conditions.
Default player spawn location.
Gameplay speed.
Scenario duration.
Example: Creating a Custom Skirmish in Stronghold Crusader 2
When players see the “Custom Skirmish” option in the main menu, they expect that they can create custom skirmishes at any time, without the feature becoming inaccessible arbitrarily. Furthermore, as no limit is indicated regarding the number of custom skirmishes they may create, players naturally assume they are free to create as many as they wish.
Credit: Firefly Studios. Screenshot captured by the author.
Players are provided with the option to modify several settings, enabling them to personalize the gameplay experience according to their preferences.
Credit: Firefly Studios. Screenshot captured by the author.
The game presents a clear graphical user interface that includes informative descriptions and helpful hints, which assist players in understanding the meaning of each customization setting.
Credit: Firefly Studios. Screenshot captured by the author.
The ability to create custom scenarios is invaluable, as it significantly enhances the game’s replayability.
Players recognize that, due to the wide range of available customization options in the Custom Skirmish menu, the game offers sufficient variety to enable the creation of new scenarios that present fresh challenges with each playthrough.
By reviewing the various customization settings—such as team configuration, starting gold, and others—players are aware that they have control over the difficulty level of the skirmish.