Gamasutra - The Legend of Zelda

Notes:

First off the hero in The Legend of Zelda is a He not a She.


Where the player is supposed to go

How they know that this is path

How the spaces fit together

Critical Path - the quickest path, why? Without using bonus or secret paths. Making the game simple and easy but still giving the player a challenge, not getting the player annoyed with the game.

He talks about Linear. Linear helps the player by not getting him/she lost in the game, but still making the player feel like it is Random in the game.

Intensity Ramping - increasing the difficulty as you progress through the level, but still giving the player a chance to learn to overcome these difficulties.

Encounter is repeated twice.

Variety - variation of enemies - " difficulty - " of level designs - " of player choices - monsters are not mixed to start with.

Training - Manuals.

Tools for Creating Dramatic Game Dynamics

Players interact with the Drama in games, giving them the tools to create the Drama.

Games and Story:

Games can create situation, where players appear to be making up the narrative making the story from the choices the player makes. Situation - Conflict Situation.

'We cannot create drama, we create the circumstances out of which drama will emerge'.

Looking at the Dramatic Narrative Graph, it starts with Conflict the Conflict needs to build and build until it has hit it's Climax then down to Resolution. Extreme Tension, Uncertainty and Inevitability theses are what the Climax needs to give the player drama. The Resolution time is low because you don't want the player waiting for the ending of a game to happen after the Climax.

Feedback system:

Real and Illusory. This changes the system and dynamic itself, for example giving the loosing player a boost to catch up with the winning player.

Positive: Give you a boost when you are ahead.
Negative: Create tension and rebalance the game.