7 Golden Rules of Unlockable Content
We've all played games where we have to do something in order to unlock something else. Sometimes it's fun, sometimes it's tedious and other times is anger inducing. I've got seven golden rules that any respectable developer should follow in order to make their unlockable content fun and keep gamers happy. Here they are in no particular order:
- Optional is Best
Unlockable content works best when it's served as a side dish to the main game. You can do it if you want to, but you don't have to. Forcing gamers to unlock stuff in the main game is just asking for trouble. Starting up a game and realizing that half the game is locked away from you is annoying and sucks most of the time.
- Make it Accessible to Everyone
The skilled players and the unskilled players bought your game for the same price so they are entitled to enjoy it equally. Developers need to make sure that everyone can access the unlockable content and not just an elite few. Doing this may require having multiple ways to unlock stuff, and that is alright.
- Don't Make it Skill Based
Skill based unlocking sucks because it usually means having to play the game on the hardest difficulty or doing some insanely hard task that only a handful of crazy people with gobs of time on their hands would bother with. We shouldn't have to beat your game on ultra extreme difficulty to be able to play with the best gun or see the bikini costumes. Doing this does not make the content accessible or fun.
- Make Sure it's not Essential
There's nothing worse than realizing that you can't get past a certain point in a game without unlocking something. It's horrible. Don't do it.
- Make it Time or Effort Based
The best type of unlockable content opens up to you after a certain amount of time put in or effort. Collecting hidden items, putting X hours into a mini-game or doing some other type of effort based task is perfect. Everyone can do it, it's usually fun and can be seamlessly worked into any game.
- Make it Worthwhile
There's few things worse than spending hours unlocking something only to find out it was the biggest waste of time and effort. If you're going to make me work for something extra make damn sure that it's worth the effort.
- Don't Charge for it
The ultimate sin of unlockable content is charging gamers cash money to unlock content already in a game. If it's on the disc I just paid $50 for it better be included with the price I paid. Don't let anyone tell you that you're not entitled to ALL of the content on the disc you just paid full price for.
Great guidlines, hopfully people will listen.
