I never really understood the score system in adventure games but then again I never was a "highscore gamer" or an obsessive completionist.
Perhaps it's that I'm less competitive - or rather: I'm not that terribly interested to compare myself to other people - to have the incentive to reach certain goals ("Wow! I got 1000 points at Leisure Suit Larry!").
On the other hand I like achievements - and even better: Surprise (or accidental) achievements.
All of them can be gotten through cheating in adventures, though, and many people will undoubtedly do that - for various reasons and by various means (hints, walkthroughs, inbuilt help system, clue book etc.). You can usually get helpful hints even for puzzles with a random element like with sliding pieces, number combinations etc.
Of course you can often cheat in a twitch game, too, but without some "mad skillz" you won't get certain achievements or higher scores at all.
This makes achievements in twitch games a competitive element - in contrary to plot-based achievements in adventures or similar games. Of course some things could be constructed - based on statistics: "Blood achievement! You dealt the most hitpoints in a single fight!" etc. Good for RPGs, perhaps, but for adventures things like "Minimum amount of steps!" are pretty pointless if you have a walkthrough.
What I really like in games (or movies - for that matter) is the element of surprise: A game doing something unexpected - in a good way. And this can often be combined with achievements or bonus objectives.
Example 1:
I recently played some custom levels for the venerable Deus Ex and got some funny bonus points for "Decimating a rat infestation" (or something like that).
What I really did was accidentally (unintentionally!) trampling those little critters to death as I crouched through a vent. They simply couldn't escape and the kill came swiftly and automatically - nothing noteworthy, really, but the bonus signal and the points given showed me that the designer clearly was aware what would happen and had some sense of humor. This is a sign of competence and I loved a) the idea in itself and b) the competence of the designer!
Example 2:
There is a mission in "Thief 2" where one has to sneak a pretty linear path into the mansion of a VIP in the game to get some information. The guy gets unexpectedly murdered, however, and the player has to get out by using the same way he went in.
Along the way in or out he could discover a hidden grave and he could (!) get the idea to drop the murdered guy into that grave (which apparently was really intended for him: to lie next to his parents at some point in the future) - to tidy things up.
Then a hidden bonus objective would become visible get and checked off instantly. Slim chance that the player would do that on his first playthrough? Yup! Incredible feeling if you did? You bet!
The Thief games are full of this stuff (hidden loot & sights, bonus objective and "secrets" completely independent of solving the game) and make themselves highly replayable through it - even though the whole story remains the same and the succession of the levels is linear. In fact lots of fan-built mission incorporate this kind of stuff, too, so a certain popularity can be assumed.
Getting these kind of achievements usually brings no real advantage except a good feeling, though, and not every player will be motivated to get them (some are very motivated to get them as countless postings in forums proove!).
IMHO, achievements with a real "earning" like funds that can be used to buy better weapons etc. will likely motivate adventure gamers to cheat more often...
I never really understood the score system in adventure games but then again I never was a "highscore gamer" or an obsessive completionist.
Perhaps it's that I'm less competitive - or rather: I'm not that terribly interested to compare myself to other people - to have the incentive to reach certain goals ("Wow! I got 1000 points at Leisure Suit Larry!").
On the other hand I like achievements - and even better: Surprise (or accidental) achievements.
All of them can be gotten through cheating in adventures, though, and many people will undoubtedly do that - for various reasons and by various means (hints, walkthroughs, inbuilt help system, clue book etc.). You can usually get helpful hints even for puzzles with a random element like with sliding pieces, number combinations etc.
Of course you can often cheat in a twitch game, too, but without some "mad skillz" you won't get certain achievements or higher scores at all.
This makes achievements in twitch games a competitive element - in contrary to plot-based achievements in adventures or similar games. Of course some things could be constructed - based on statistics: "Blood achievement! You dealt the most hitpoints in a single fight!" etc. Good for RPGs, perhaps, but for adventures things like "Minimum amount of steps!" are pretty pointless if you have a walkthrough.
What I really like in games (or movies - for that matter) is the element of surprise: A game doing something unexpected - in a good way. And this can often be combined with achievements or bonus objectives.
Example 1:
I recently played some custom levels for the venerable Deus Ex and got some funny bonus points for "Decimating a rat infestation" (or something like that).
What I really did was accidentally (unintentionally!) trampling those little critters to death as I crouched through a vent. They simply couldn't escape and the kill came swiftly and automatically - nothing noteworthy, really, but the bonus signal and the points given showed me that the designer clearly was aware what would happen and had some sense of humor. This is a sign of competence and I loved a) the idea in itself and b) the competence of the designer!
Example 2:
There is a mission in "Thief 2" where one has to sneak a pretty linear path into the mansion of a VIP in the game to get some information. The guy gets unexpectedly murdered, however, and the player has to get out by using the same way he went in.
Along the way in or out he could discover a hidden grave and he could (!) get the idea to drop the murdered guy into that grave (which apparently was really intended for him: to lie next to his parents at some point in the future) - to tidy things up.
Then a hidden bonus objective would become visible get and checked off instantly. Slim chance that the player would do that on his first playthrough? Yup! Incredible feeling if you did? You bet!
The Thief games are full of this stuff (hidden loot & sights, bonus objective and "secrets" completely independent of solving the game) and make themselves highly replayable through it - even though the whole story remains the same and the succession of the levels is linear. In fact lots of fan-built mission incorporate this kind of stuff, too, so a certain popularity can be assumed.
Getting these kind of achievements usually brings no real advantage except a good feeling, though, and not every player will be motivated to get them (some are very motivated to get them as countless postings in forums proove!).
IMHO, achievements with a real "earning" like funds that can be used to buy better weapons etc. will likely motivate adventure gamers to cheat more often...
take care,
Calibrator
take care,
Calibrator