How to Design Effective Achievements

[cdj]

A fitting article for this crowd.

***

How to Design Effective Achievements

[In this first in a new series of articles, PhD researcher and game designer Lucas Blair uses academic research to formulate best practices for designing in-game achievements.]

Achievements are a hot topic in the gaming industry. Player feelings toward them range from obsession to indifference and designers seem equally torn over their use. Controversial or not, achievements appear to be here to stay, so designers need to learn to utilize them to their fullest potential. Achievements, if they are intended to have a positive effect on players, must be a forethought, and not an afterthought, during the game design process.

In many cases they are carelessly tacked on to a game after it is already close to completion. Unfortunately, the benefits of a carefully-crafted game mechanic can be undermined by attaching a poorly-designed achievement to it.

Alternatively, if achievements are designed in the same manner as other aspects of games, they can be used to improve the player's experience and the overall quality of a game.

There is an established body of scientific study covering a wide range of topics, which should guide the design of achievements. In this article series, I will be sharing a taxonomy of achievement design features created by deconstructing how achievements are currently used in games.

The goal of this exercise is to distill mechanisms of action out of achievement designs, which have been shown by research to affect performance, motivation, and attitudes.

This taxonomy, although intended to be comprehensive, is likely to be subject to debate and future revisions. For the time being however, I think it is a good jumping off point for a discussion that must be had if we are to ever effectively harness the potential of achievements.

In part one I will be covering the following concepts:

Measurement Achievements
Completion Achievements
Boring vs. Interesting Tasks
Achievement Difficulty
Goal Orientation

Link to full article

[CLW]

Bastards trying to design trophies to make me purchase their games instead of renting them via GameFly. I noticed recently several games require allot of online trophies which can only be obtained if you buy the game or pay for an online code. Effectively stopping my quest for Platinum before it starts.

[gschwendt]

Bastards trying to design trophies to make me purchase their games instead of renting them via GameFly. I noticed recently several games require allot of online trophies which can only be obtained if you buy the game or pay for an online code. Effectively stopping my quest for Platinum before it starts.

Don't most games come with a trial for online?

[I OU a Beatn]

I've noticed a trend of "play 6 months online after you initially play," which is retarded. Honestly, if developers want a fairly good way to do achievements/trophies:

1. One for each campaign chapter beaten.'
2. One for each difficulty beaten.
3. A few for doing your game's go to feature. Like Fallout 3: "Shoot 10 people in the head with VATS."
4. Never, EVER make them so you have to work as a team. Like on Bulletstorm, score 50,000 in one wave as a team? Yeah right, the chances of you getting 3 ran-dumbs to do that well is basically zero.
5. Don't make them tedious. Perfect example: Bad Company 2 and killing 20 people with Destruction 2.0(collapsing a house on them). No, just no.
6. Finding loot. It's annoying, but I like going after them some time, so it's a good achievement/trophy, IMO.
7. Online. I personally like them, but not to the extent I have to do really long hours on it. Like Resistance 2 and it's 10,000 kills. That would be no problem if the game didn't suck, but it's immensely tedious when it does.

[CLW]

Don't most games come with a trial for online?

Yes but many of them require achievements that cannot realistically be accomplished in the given "trial" period.

[JeffHCross]

How to Design Effective Achievements

"Do not include the words Player Lock, Interception, or Fight for the Fumble," said JeffHCross.

Honestly, if developers want a fairly good way to do achievements/trophies:

I pretty much totally agree with your list. Ratchet & Clank: CiT, and InFamous both basically followed those ideas, and both were very accomplish-able and Platinums that didn't ruin it with difficulty. I don't particularly like that R&C will make me do a third play-through, but that's my own mistake because I misunderstood the trophies (Having one for playing the game on Easy, Normal, and Hard -- didn't realize that beating it on Hard would take care of all three).

[JBHuskers]

"Do not include the words Player Lock, Interception, or Fight for the Fumble," said JeffHCross.

I'm going to lobby with the devs for NCAA 13 to rename the Player Lock trophy "The JeffH Special"

[I OU a Beatn]

I don't particularly like that R&C will make me do a third play-through, but that's my own mistake because I misunderstood the trophies (Having one for playing the game on Easy, Normal, and Hard -- didn't realize that beating it on Hard would take care of all three).

That last play through on R&C should be a breeze, though. By then, you would've unlocked his one outfit and that crazy ass gun that completely destroys everything. I did my second play through in literally half the time I did my first. Hell, now that I think about it, I think I played through it 3 times, too. I think I messed up the one thing and had to play clear through again.

[JeffHCross]

Yeah, the Challenge mode play through will be easy. Just wish I could play the Challenge mode playthrough on Hard and take care of both trophies.