Leave it to the Player
We had a discussion over what we give the player at the start of the game: give them all the drawing they want or feed it to them slowly.
One side said that the player should be given instances of the drawing to give them a taste of the platforming at the same time, and not let the drawing take up all the player's time.
The other said to give the player all the time in the world to draw, and let them decide for themselves how they want to play the game.The decision came down to giving one person (with no previous say in the discussion) full power over the final choice, but allow both sides to explain their reasoning. Eventually, we decided to give the player the ability to draw and edit their character at any given time, but make them unlock new items to draw: a viable solution.
With this conclusion, the player can spend as much time as they want drawing the hat they unlock in the first level, but has to get to the next level to unlock the melee weapon, and draw a sword or an axe, or a sheep if they wish. It makes the player get through our levels and make progress while still allowing them to re-draw the items they already have in their possession.
A good solution to the conflict between game progression and player choice.
Another design article coming next in Guided Player Choice.
Kramer, out.
