(re: re: Game Design Methodologies) Thanks for posting those documents. It’s great to see some of the thoughts that went into making a few of the Sierra adventures.
If I say anything more than that, I may begin to gush profusely. As I’m sure everybody involved has heard the “I worshipped the Sierra designers! They were an inspiration to me!” bit, I’ll just skip that part. Let me see what I can pull out of the documents themselves.
In looking over the analysis of interface, I’m struck by one thing in particular. For most of the document, Roberta Williams does not focus on how a revamped Sierra interface will function. Instead, she considers what has already been tried, and looks over the way a player might be expected to perceive some feature of the interface. She doesn’t just contemplate the obvious question of how precisely the player should dictate the protagonist’s actions; she also examines the subtleties. How do we focus on different parts of the screen? How does seeing or not seeing the inventory affect the player’s thoughts? It is only after making some conclusions on these matters that she decides how she can improve upon her earlier work.
It’s like a how-to guide for developing player empathy, that elusive defining quality of the greatest adventure game designers.
I think that looking over more of these documents would be quite enlightening, especially for prospective game designers like Mr. Weatherby.
P. S.: I worshipped the Sierra designers! They were an inspiration to me!
