iPhone Game Development - Chris Craft [59]
Another common approach used in action games is for the early levels to be at a much slower pace. Many of the games from our list take this approach, including Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and Frogger. Unreal Tournament has a feature called spawn protection, which is a period of invulnerability that a player has during only the first 2 to 4 seconds from when his character enters the game.
This gives the player a chance to look around and move around as needed before other players can attack. On the other hand, Doom simply provides the player a menu from which to choose a skill level. All of these approaches allow a wider range of players a chance to enjoy their favorite action games regardless of their current skill level.
Game balance—finding a balance between hard enough but not too hard—is one of the most important aspects of any action game. But it takes more than that to make a truly great action game. Think back to our list of famous action games. What other features do some of the games have in common?
Here are a few ways these games present challenges:
Creating time pressure. When beating the challenge, the player has only a limited amount of time to complete the task.
Levels. The player must complete a series of increasingly challenging levels.
Health and lives. The player's character has either a limited amount of health or a limited number of lives.
Score. It's common for action games to keep track of the player's score. Many of these games even have a high score feature. This presents another goal for players. Players not only want to win, but to be the best.
Action games can be more difficult to create than many other types of games. They tend to require more assets, such as graphics and sounds. They usually need more logic, and logic that is more complex than most puzzle games. Even though they can be more work, many times they are more rewarding to create.
A well-done action game, even a simple one, can become a world unto itself. Some of the most popular action games have gone on to become everything from cartoon shows to television shows to movies. The next time you are in a store with a toy department, look around and see how many toys you can find that are based on one of these types of games.
What have you learned from the examples we have covered to ensure that your game is successful?
Make sure your action game . . .
Has good game balance—it's neither too easy nor too hard.
Makes a good first impression and has an attractive overall appearance.
Is free of any and all bugs and usability issues.
Engages the gamer in an increasingly challenging series of stages or levels.
Is addictive enough to keep the gamer coming back and telling his friends about the game.
Tip
Don't lose sight of how important quality is to the overall success of any game, especially action games. Remember, form and function first. If you can make every detail both look and work great, you have the most important ingredients for a successful application.
Understanding Game Design: Excitement and Achievement
One reason people play games is to escape from their everyday ordinary lives. It is a release, a way of letting go of day-to-day pressures. In games we are able to become and do almost anything we can imagine. If, as a child, you wanted to become a famous race car driver, as Apple's recent iPhone commercials say, “There's an app for that.” Or maybe you wanted to win an Olympic medal in skiing? Guess what, there's an app for that as well.
If you're thinking that with the tens of thousands of applications already on the App Store, you have missed your chance to be a part of the mobile app revolution, you're wrong. Just as grocery stores do better when they have more products by having more competitors offering more varieties, so does the iPhone App Store.
Enjoying the benefits of competition
Another example is car dealerships. A lone car dealership in an area will actually tend to do worse than a car dealership in another area where there are many dealerships because people will go out of their