I am currently working on an adventure game where a player is a game master that has objectives of his own. I am trying to make a small survey to know what people like and dislike about adventure game to include or exclude certain features of the game.
I'll start the discussion by giving a few of my personal like/dislike:
Something has happened: Many adventure games like talisman and Arkham Horror consist in going somewhere, drawing a card, doing what ever the card does, and it's over. For some reason, that the not really increase the immersivity of the game and there is little decision to do in the process.
strong theme: The main advantage of adventure game is that it is a strongly theme game and it must do everything it can to promote this. This sometimes the thematic event of exploring a location could just be ignored. Maybe if the player had some choices related to it, he might get drawn more easily into it.
Too little strategy: Many games has little strategy, something happens, you make the roll and that's it. If the player had some actions for the event resolution, or if he had some sort of control on his luck by flushing resources or controlling the re-rolling of dice, it might add more strategy. In arkham horror, they add strategy by allowing to change the character's stats, but I find it annoying because most of the time, you do not know which stat you are going to need.
Too Scripted, no replay value: Some recent games like mansion of madness and Mice and mystics does have a stronger thematic feeling, but there is little replay value because it feels too scripted. Which requires buying additional expansions.
No Goals: In some games, there is no short term goals. For example, in Arkham Horror, most of the time, there is no reason to go to one place rather than another. Normally, you would be following clues that lead you to a destination. Here, the most you can do is collect clue tokens. Maybe having more interaction between the locations could be the key
Character Development: Most adventure game has some sort of character development and that seem interesting and essential. Players want to see their character evolve and power up as the game progress.
Do you have any other comments or suggestions?
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http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/11124553#11124553
