Game Design Snacks Wikia
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How many hours / minutes of play you can squeeze from a game has become an important detail when selling games, especially in larger titles. However, this can lead to some serious quantity over quality scenarios where creators are cramming needless quest lines and plot points into places where they aren’t needed (and don’t belong) just so the words “150 hours of gameplay” can be associated with the title. While this may be an "easier said that done" scenario for larger titles, smaller titles can benefit from gleaning off the excess "stuff" that can distract the player from the core narrative or intended experience. This gives more time for creators to focus on enhancing the game's quality and allows the player to enjoy the important aspects of the game.

AC Example

Take Assassin's Creed Syndicate, for example. While many of the quests on this map add something to the gameplay experience, there are many more that are merely filler in order to bolster the play time. Overall, though, these quests end up only adding more chaos to the map and will likely only be finished by completionists.

Example 2

Fran Bow is a single-player puzzle game where player controls a little named Fran Bow to find out the truth behind her parent's murder case. This game starts with a fast-paced puzzle line where Fran Bow constantly gathers information and items to solve puzzles. However, when it comes to the third chapter, Fran Bow is required to visit the wizard back and force multiple times to just turn in items in order to unlock more. It makes the player wonder why items have to be turned in one by one in order to unlock the next clue when all of them could have been put as a bigger quest. This can also slow down the whole gameplay.

Fran_Bow_walkthough_chapter_3

Fran Bow walkthough chapter 3

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