Starfield Wants You to Ignore the Main Questline

Рет қаралды 3,038

Күн бұрын

This is a Starfield Game Design Spotlight. We’ll discuss Player Driven Gameplay and Player Agency
The book Nudge can be purchased here (amazon affiliate link) amzn.to/3rvQg7t
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:28 Player Agency and Self Directed Gameplay
04:52 How Starfield helps you find new activities
08:04 Side Missions
08:40 Crafting and Skills
11:45 Revisting the Mission Log
12:53 Audience Considerations
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This is Wyatt Cheng’s personal channel. In my day job I serve as Game Director at Blizzard Entertainment. This channel is an independent endeavor and not related to my employer in any way. The opinions expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Пікірлер: 18

@AndrewChambersDesign 8 ай бұрын

Great analysis!

@Saucemixer 8 ай бұрын

For me, I struggle with games without directions, esp. if they are story-based (Witcher 2 vs. Witcher 3 f.e.). Seeing this trend in Bethesda Games kinda worries me for the future of open world games - I like open worlds, but I also like direction. It's a bold move for sure to give players so much agency about their adventures. I think they could have it more streamlined overall and still retain this design. Sometimes it feels the game looses itself and creates a shallow world (even if it's filled with quests) since you go away so far from the main plot or a side plot due to distraction. Coming back to the game, then a couple of days later, can leave you with the question of where you left off. This can result in people losing interest into the game.

@aforbes2nd 8 ай бұрын

For the real fun in Starfield, you can shut the floating mission markers off altogether. Kinda just 'Kung Fu' you way through the game...

@aforbes2nd 8 ай бұрын

Very good, and most correct... Loved the video. At 60 and playing since Pong, I am on my 3rd restart. Started new tonight because I really enjoy the stealth, and had not used it until a few days ago. Too fun. Had to go silenced ballistic stealth all around. In Skyrim stealth became unplayable, Cyberpunk was fun fast stealth. This is amazing, levels slow, with multiple other skills to assist. Only Level 7, but will not speak to Sarah to do the Old Neighborhood until I have the Dragonfire II fully modded... Just playing self driven by character creation needs with a financial goal. When I land, I do the mission, drop the stuff off, and do a spawned location. Just starting collections for the bank. Thank you for the vid...

@candlesan 8 ай бұрын

Thanks for stopping in! I'm hoping to do more Game Design Spotlights like this one on other games so if you're interested in this type of video I hope you'll join me there and let me know your take on future topics too!

@exmerion 8 ай бұрын

After playing for a bit and running down the main quest till I got to THAT point where you get a new game mechanic. I kinda felt like the world was pretty shallow and boring. But When I decided to go back and jump into the Vanguard questline. That's when the game actually grabbed me. I was already 10 hours in at the point and I almost put the game down but I decided to check out the side quests because the main was so stale. I actually think the vanguard questline should be more heavy handedly pushed on players and not just an off-hand comment, It straight up tells you a (biased) Lore of the Starfield universe and get's you a bit invested.

@candlesan 8 ай бұрын

I hear ya! There are so many fantastic quests and storylines in Starfield and none of them are on the main quest! Thanks for visiting my game design channel!

@TekknoTim 7 ай бұрын

The most things you mentioned are a good reason, why bethesda games are a ton of fun to mod. I can't wait to get my hands on the new creationkit! There's so much critics about this game out there, that it was a pleasure to watch this analysis, which really points out, what for me wasn't that obvious while playing, because I was just having fun, rather than thinking about, why I have fun. 👍🏼

@candlesan 7 ай бұрын

I agree with you - it'll be awesome to see what modders do with the new creationkit. If you look at how much extra life modders were able to extend previous games like Skyrim it's clear that Starfield will be a modders paradise.

@novalodos1224 5 ай бұрын

Anyone supporting the game in videos is likely doing it for perks from the company, networking opportunities, early access, and to avoid being blacklisted. On Steam, the game has overwhelmingly negative reviews. Players have the option to block those who evidently deceive players.

@jesse2535 8 ай бұрын

This is literally skyrim with a few immersion mods that hide some of the HUD that starfield already has by default :)

@gabrielpauna62 3 ай бұрын

I may not be as experienced in the gaming industry but i disagree. Agency only matters when there is variety in the gameplay with restrictions ... meaning you have to do X here are your tools, example find a waterchip in 100 days, i cant go into the hud cauze there is too much radiation find a way to be able to handle the radiation, ow water chip is not there but there is a hint at junk town try there. Ow gismo needs taking care of lets do that maybe i learn something etc... that rpg is miles ahead of starfield and 30 years old