So when we say we want our games to be non-linear, we mean we want them to pro vide choices for the player to make, dif fer ent paths they can take to get from point A to point B, from the game’s begin ning to its end. We can mean this in a num ber of ways: in terms of the game’s story, in terms of how the player solves the game’s chal lenges, in terms of the order in which the player tack les the chal lenges, and in which chal lenges the player chooses to engage. All of these com po nents can con trib ute to mak ing a game non-linear, and the more non-linearity the devel oper cre ates, the more unique each player’s expe ri ence can be. Fur ther more, the dif fer ent
non-linear com po nents can inter act with each other to make the whole far greater than the sum of its parts.
l Storytelling: I discuss non-linear storytelling in more detail in Chapter 11,
“Storytelling.” Of course, a non-linear story line is necessarily tied to
non-linear gameplay, and no one would bother to try to make a story non-linear if the game itself offered the player very little in the way of meaningful
decisions. Storytelling is perhaps one of the most neglected parts of games in terms of non-linearity, with many developers allowing for non-linear gameplay while constraining their games to a completely linear story.
l Multiple Solutions: I discussed above how a well-designed game will enable the player to come up with his own solutions to the challenges the game presents. Not every player will think of the same way to go about solving a situation, and, given that these alternate solutions are reasonable, any challenge must have multiple ways for the player to overcome it. Having multiple solutions to the individual challenges within a game is a big part of
non-linearity; it enables the player to have multiple paths to get from point A (being presented with the challenge) and point B (solving the challenge).
l Order: Beyond being able to figure out the solutions to challenges in unique ways, players will enjoy the ability to pick the order in which they perform challenges. Many adventure games have made the mistake of being overly linear by allowing the player access to only one puzzle at a given time. In order to even attempt a second puzzle, players must complete the first one. That is a linear way of thinking, which proves especially frustrating when a player gets stuck on a particular puzzle and, due to the game’s linear nature, can do nothing else until that puzzle is solved. Giving the player choices of different puzzles to solve allows them to put aside a troubling puzzle and go work on another one for a while. After completing the second puzzle, the player may return to the first, refreshed and revitalized, and thereby have a better chance of solving it.
l Selection: Another way of making a game non-linear is to allow the player to pick and choose which challenges they want to overcome. Say that between point A and point B in a game there lies a series of three challenges, X, Y, and Z, which are non-order dependent, that is, the player can do these challenges in any order he wishes. What if, once the player surmounts challenge X, he does not have to go back and solve challenge Y or Z, he can simply move on to point B in the game, perhaps never returning to Y or Z? The same is true if the player initially chooses to tackle Y or Z instead of X. Any one of the choices will allow the player to proceed. The advantage is that if the player finds challenge X to be insurmountable, he can try challenge Y or Z. This greatly decreases the chance of the player becoming permanently stuck. It need not be the case that Y is easier than X; the mere fact that it is different may allow the player a better
chance of getting through it, depending on his strengths as a player. Other players may find X to be easier than Y or Z, but giving the player a choice of which challenges he takes on allows the player to exploit his own personal skills to get through the game. Of course, after completing challenge X, the player may still have the option of going back and completing the Y and Z challenges, perhaps just for the fun of it or because overcoming those
challenges somehow improves his chances down the line. Perhaps completing Y and Z gives his player character greater overall experience or riches. This type of non-linearity can also be used to add totally optional side-quests to the game. These challenges are not strictly required for the player to get to the end of the game, though they may make it somewhat easier or merely provide an interesting diversion along the way. Whatever the case, these optional challenges provide an extra degree of non-linearity, further customizing the player’s experience.
Implementation
My first game, Odys sey: The Leg end of Nem e sis, is with out doubt the most relent -lessly non-linear game design I have ever done, and includes exam ples of all the types of non-linearity described above. Odys sey is an RPG and takes place on an archi pel ago that includes seven pri mary islands for the player to explore. Though the player is required to com plete at least one quest on the first island before mov -ing on to the rest of the game, there are two quests, each with mul ti ple solu tions from which the player may choose. Indeed, clever play ers can skip the quests
Odys sey is an extremely
non-linear game, allow ing the player to solve puz zles in what ever order he chooses and to select which quests he wants to go on. The game almost always pro vides more than one solu tion to any given puz zle.
entirely if they fig ure out how to rob a par tic u lar townsperson. From there, the player is able to move freely about the next five islands, pick ing which ones he wants to explore and which he pre fers to just pass through. Indeed, all that is
required for the player to reach the sev enth island and the end-game is for the player to suc cess fully nav i gate each island, kill ing the mon sters that get in his way. Of course, kill ing those crea tures is made sig nif i cantly eas ier if the player receives the rewards for com plet ing the quests. But if the player so chooses, he can skip the entire mid dle of the game. Of course, few play ers have done this, pre fer ring instead to explore the dif fer ent quests and sit u a tions they encoun ter there. Nearly every sin -gle one of these quests has mul ti ple ways for the player to solve it, with his actions hav ing a direct impact on how each of the island’s mini-stories resolves. Finally, the game itself has mul ti ple end ings for the player to explore, end ings which suit the dif fer ent over all goals the player may have: sur vival, revenge, or a sort of jus tice and har mony. Though the game had a very def i nite story, I am happy to say that I doubt very much that any two play ers ever expe ri enced it in exactly the same way.
Non-linearity is an extremely pow er ful tool to use in design ing a game, and the descrip tions above of the types of non-linearity a designer can employ may seem obvi ous to the reader. What is aston ish ing, then, is how many games fail to pro vide any sub stan tial non-linearity for the player, instead insist ing that the player play through the game on a sin gle line from point A to point B. One rea son for this is that cre at ing all of these non-linear ele ments can be quite time con sum ing. Con sider that between point A and B, we have the afore men tioned chal lenges X, Y, and Z, but the player only has to over come one of these chal lenges in order to prog ress, say chal lenge X. The player can then con tinue play ing through to the end of the game hav ing never inter acted with chal lenge Y or Z. As a non-linear game, that is the player’s pre rog a tive. The prob lem arises when a cost accoun tant looks at the game and tries to fig ure out where the game’s bud get can be trimmed. Well, obvi -ously, if Y and Z are not strictly nec es sary, why bother hav ing them at all? Why spend a lot of money on the pro gram ming, art, and design nec es sary to get Y and Z work ing when there’s a chance the player will never see them? Unfor tu nately, accoun tants are often not in touch with the finer points of game design, and when you say, “But nonlinearity is what makes this game great!” they are likely to dis -miss you as “dif fi cult.”
Non-linearity is also often hard to pull off from a design per spec tive, cer tainly harder than sim ple lin ear ity. This may be another rea son why so many design ers shy away from it at the first oppor tu nity. Designing numer ous obsta cles that are dif -fer ent enough to pro vide vari ety for play ers while all apply ing roughly the same chal lenge is not an easy task. In the X, Y, and Z chal lenges exam ple, if Z is sig nif i -cantly eas ier than X or Y, it is quite likely no one will ever bother with X or Y. In a way, a game with poorly designed choices for the player is nearly as lin ear as a game with out any choices at all. The non-linearity your game pro vides must be
mean ing ful and use ful to the player or it is a waste. Designers who think too highly of their own design skills may also avoid non-linearity in their designs because they want the player to expe ri ence every sin gle ele ment of the game they decide to include. “Why spend a lot of time on por tions of the game that not every one will see?” say these ego tis ti cal design ers, start ing to sound a lot like the accoun tants.