When I pushed open the door of nearly 40 meters in the magic ring, the slow and heavy sound of pushing the door came from the game, and I even needed to push it several times because the door was too heavy. On the same day, I opened the new game that I recently tested, entered the task operation center similar to the "computer room", and opened the door for a long time.
In video games, the best doors are the ones that no one remembers. Pete Galbraith, developer at Owlchemy Labs, said, "Of course, everyone appreciates a door that's big, beautiful, and well-animated. But in video games, doors are often synonymous with headache-inducing design. Being easily forgotten means that the developers have done their job. Galbraith says that if the door blends into the environment, fits the situation, and works exactly as the player intended, then in that moment, it's a door, as real as any door in the player's real life. "I can't imagine that a door in the game would get such a high rating. ”
Stephan Hövelbrinks, creator of Death Trash, explains that the door "has all sorts of possible bugs". Kurt Margenau, co-game director of The Last of Us Part II, called it "the thing that took the longest". For example, when "Intense" (the player is in the middle of an encounter) and non-"Intense", the door works differently: the door automatically closes slowly during battle, but still opens when exploring. "If the player were to open a door, it couldn't just magically fly open, the character had to reach for the doorknob and push it open," Margenau explained in a tweet. "But what about closing the door behind you? How do you do that while sprinting?"
If a door hits an NPC, will the door stop, or will the NPC move?
I think doors themselves tend to gain fame for being bad because they (1) are more common in the real world (I use doors every day!) and (2) are more common in games, so more people can use it as a litmus test for 'unexpected difficult interactions'.
The door was just a comically simple concept – a large open rectangle for entry and exit that became a problem for the whole team during development. As Will Kerslake, game director at Crystal Dynamics, said, "There are a lot of problems with the door". For example, Kerslake explains that the door can open to you or backwards, and the handle can be on either side. If you can interact with the door in different states, such as crouching or sprinting, then this adds an extra set of animations. If you pull open a door, you need to back down in the real world to avoid it, which is another set of problems. In a first-person game, it's easier to animate the door instead of the player. Whereas, in a third-person game in HD, the player's hand will move to the doorknob, which is expected. When a player interacts with any door, their position and angle can and will vary.
Other issues may involve several players competing for a door at the same time, or even non-player characters. If a door hits an NPC, will the door stop, or will the NPC move?Kerslake said: The choices here can lead to all sorts of errors, depending on the respective game.
It's not that making doors in video games is an impossible task. For some developers, it's just something that isn't worth the trouble. "As a result, many games avoid using doors during gameplay, and you'd be surprised how many games have doors that are fundamentally interactive," Kerslake said. "There are many doorways, but important ones are missing, or have been opened. The next step in the complication is that doors are only used as progress gates, they can only be opened, and then they can no longer be closed. ”
You'll be surprised that a lot of games don't have interactive doors at all
Technical issues aside, how the player handles the performance of the door is also important. Everyone knows how doors work and therefore has a subconscious understanding and expectation of how the door moves, sounds, and looks. Galbraith said that for a normal object, the player needs to believe that the door is a door with more accuracy than a fantasy object.
"Because we often interact with them in a variety of different ways, we have a very clear picture of how to interact with them," Galbraith said. Just like the doors in our homes, we subconsciously learn about their tiny details, like how quickly they close or how much we can move them when they are locked. So when we see a door in the game that closes too quickly or without friction, or when there is a locked door with the doorknob not shaking and making a sound, we notice that something is wrong with the door."
You can also tweak it a little. For example, most doors can only turn in one direction, but the doors in the game often swing in both directions. "When these kinds of virtual doors look, sound and behave like normal doors, the player's psychological acceptance increases, allowing them to continue the game without questioning why every door in the game happens to open from their side," Galbraith said. For them, it's just a strange coincidence that the brain subconsciously chooses to ignore. ”
In video games, doors aren't just an aesthetic or immersion technique; They are gates that prevent the player from continuing until they complete a puzzle or defeat a boss, and they can be used as a marker for the player to move forward, create tension, or act as cover.
"Doors are just one of the many tools developers can use when designing levels," says Galbraith. Many games use doors while also employing other methods to avoid potential problems, or even just to help change the content. But there is one exception: "Unless the door is really small and cute, in which case it's just a door that can be opened!"
And 10 years ago, developer Liz England shared "The Door Problem" that year was also known in the industry at that time:
Game design is a vague term for people outside of the gaming industry, just like the position of "astrophysicist" is for me. I found myself explaining to a lot of people from different backgrounds what game design means, some of whom didn't know anything about games.
Game design is a vague term for people outside of the gaming industry, just as the title of "astrophysicist" is as vague as it is for me. I found myself explaining the meaning of game design to a lot of people from different backgrounds, some of whom didn't even know anything about games.
The problem of the door
I like to use the term "door problem" to describe my work.
Premise: You're making a game.
- Is there a door in the game?
- Will the player be able to open them?
- Can the player open every door in the game?
- Or are some of the doors decorative?
- How do players know the difference?
- Is the door that can be opened green and the door that can't be opened red? Is there a pile of garbage in front of the door that can't be used? Is it just a matter of removing the doorknob?
- Can the door be locked and unlocked?
- How do I tell the player that a door is locked and will open, rather than a door that will never open?
- Do players know how to open doors?Do they need keys?Hack into the console?Solve puzzles?Do you have to wait until the end of the chapter?
- Are there doors that can be opened, but the player can never enter?
- Where did the enemy come from? Did they run in through the doors? Will the doors be locked after that?
- How does the player open a door? Does it slide open when you walk over?Does the door open with a push? Does the player have to press a button to open the door?
- Will the door lock behind the player?
- What happens if there are two players? It is locked after both players have passed through the door?
- What if the level is too big to have all the players at the same time? If one player stays behind, the floor may disappear from under their feet. What to do?
- Will you stop one of the players from moving on until both enter the same room together?
- Do you want to teleport players who have fallen behind?
- What is the size of the door?
- Does it have to be big enough for a player to pass?
- What about co-op players?If Player 1 is standing in the doorway, will it block Player 2?
- What about the allies who are following behind? How many of them need to walk through the door without getting stuck?
- What about enemies? Do mini-bosses bigger than humans need to go through doors?
This is a very classic design question. Someone has to solve the problem of the door, and that person is the designer.
Other-door issues
To help you understand the role breakdown of large companies, I sometimes delve into how other people deal with doors.
- Creative Director: yes, we definitely need doors for this game.
- Project Manager: I'll schedule time for everyone to make the door.
- Designer: I wrote a document explaining what we need the door for.
- Concept Artist: I painted some ornate doors.
- Art Director: This third painting is exactly the style we need for the door.
- Environment Art: I made the painted door an in-game object.
- Animation: I made the opening and closing of the door.
- Sound effects: I made the sound that the door makes when it opens and closes.
- Audio: The sound of doors opening and closing changes depending on the player's position and orientation.
- Composer: I wrote a theme song for this door.
- Special effects: I added some cool special effects to the door when it opened.
- Writer: When the door opens, the player will say "Hey, look!
- Lights: When the door is locked, a red light will light up on the door. When the door is opened, a green light will come on.
- Compliance: Environmental Art put the Starbucks logo on the door. If you don't want to be sued, you have to get rid of it.
- Character Art: I don't really care about this door until it starts wearing hats.
- Client: This door can now be opened and closed based on the distance from the player, and it can also be locked and unlocked by scripts.
- AI Programs: Enemies and allies can now know if there is a door, and if they can pass through it.
- Network program: Does it require all players to see the door open at the same time?
- Packing: If you want the door to appear on the disk, you have to put the door in by 3pm.
- Engine technology: I've optimized the code so that you can have up to 1024 doors in the game.
- Tool program: Doors can be placed more easily.
- Level Design: I placed a door in the level and locked it. It is unlocked after the event occurs.
- UI design: Now the door has a target marker on it, and it also has its own icon on the map. ”
- Combat Design: Enemies will appear behind doors and shoot to cover when other allies enter the room. Unless the player is looking inside the door, they will appear behind another door.
- System Design: Level 4 players can open this door for 148XP at the cost of 3 gold.
- Monetization: We can charge the player $0.99 to open the door now, or wait 24 hours for it to open automatically.
- QA test: I go to open the door. I ran to open the door. I jumped to the door. I stood in the doorway until the door closed. I saved and reloaded, then walked to the door. I reloaded when I died and walked to the door. I threw a grenade at the door.
- UX/UE: I found a couple of people on Craigslist to open the door so we could know what was going to go wrong.
- 本地化:Door. Puerta. Porta. Porte. Tür. Dør. Deur. Drzwi. Door. 문
- Producer: Do we need to give everyone these doors? or do we save them as pre-order rewards?
- Publisher: These are the doors that will make this game stand out in the fall games.
- CEO: I want to let you know that I really appreciate the time and effort that went into making these doors.
- PR：“致我们所有的粉丝，你们一定会为我们的下一次曝光而疯狂 #gamedev #doors #nextgen #retweet”
- Community Manager: I let fans know that their concerns about the door will be addressed in the upcoming patch.
- Customer Service: We were contacted by a player who was confused by the door. I gave them detailed instructions on how to use it.
- Player: I didn't notice there was a door at all.
People have the impression that the game design is flashy, cool, and about crazy ideas and fun. But when I start with "Let me tell you about the door...... it cuts straight to the practicality of everyday life.
Original translation
1.https://www.theverge.com/22328169/game-development-doors-design-difficult
2.https://lizengland.com/blog/2014/04/the-door-problem/