I’m currently looking at implementing an achievement system into a game I’ve been developing and I’ve been struggling with the best way to implement them.
My hope is that achievements will encourage multiple playthroughs by hinting at other possibilities within the game, but I can see that they could be too intrusive for some people and break their suspension of disbelief and it thought it would be useful to canvas general opinion on the subject as I know some people really dislike achievements.
Do people prefer them to be visible throughout the game via the stats button, or only displayed when you finish the game?
Should all the achievements be possible in one play through? For example, my game has six different factions, and I’m considering an achievement for completing separate play throughs with all six of the different factions.
Which CoG games do people feel have implemented achievement systems most successfully so far?
I think that they should be displayed at the end of the game, because they give you a sense of closure. I think that Marine Raiders, Apex Patrol and Life of a Wizard implemented the achievement system really well. I think that making only some of them possible in one play through would encourage the reader to play again, which is always a good thing because they’ll most likely enjoy the story even more.
I’m enjoying the achievements in ORPHEUS Ruse, and it didn’t break my enjoyment when a bubble popped up with “Mentor’s Healer” or “Rookie Field Agent” in mid-narrative. It didn’t happen too often, so it felt special.
ORPHEUS is appropriately judicious about which ones pop up. If “Lover of a Wildcat” had popped up in mid-narrative, rather than as a game-end achievement, it would have been a complete turn-off.
In general, I like the game-end ones. Life of a Wizard was I think the first game to do it really well – or at any rate, the first one that I played compulsively, trying to tick off achievements.
And I don’t think it should be possible to get all the achievements in one playthrough – or if it is, that “perfect playthrough” should be incredibly hard, an achievement in itself.
I have added two so far to my wip. One is during play the other is and end play. I think several play throughs shouls be had to gather all of them.
@byronmcsteele
I’d enjoy a type of “achievement” menu accessed from the stats menu. The easier achievements telling you what you have to do to unlock, the normal achievements giving you a opaque hint on what you have to do, and the hardest ones having the hint only lie in the title.
But it would also be nice to have a little closure on the end of the game, like in A Wizard’s Life.
