Classic Game Design Elements that Should Never Die

Games have gotten more complex as the tools to make them have become more robust; however there are a few things that modern developers should still tap into when making new experiences. Here are five of the most important design elements pioneered by the games of yesteryear that should never go away.

Bosses

From a technical standpoint, bosses allow a nice way for developers to break up the action in a level and give the player a new puzzle to solve with the tools they've mastered. However, from a more metaphorical perspective, bosses allow the characters and the players themselves to attach a concrete example to just how much they've learned and what they can overcome using the tools with which the game has provided them. It's a means of toppling the challenges that the character must face in a physical way. Sometimes this culminates in some really amazing moments (Okami) or some really rote ones (Knack), but when done correctly, boss fights are about accomplishment within the game world, not just beating a bigger version of the thing you've already fought.

Bosses can be as simple as jumping over your enemy.

Boss fights have gotten extremely creative over the years.

Chapters

Games are often held to many of the same standards as films. Indeed, developers are constantly attempting to create more cinematic or filmic experiences in games. This logic is a bit flawed, however, since games’ structures often more closely resemble those found in television and novels. The length of games requires the action to be broken up from event to event in such a way that each section is distinct in some way. Much like chapters in a book or episodes of a show, some are meant to build the story, some are meant to be self contained side stories, and some are meant to feel like a small accomplishment on the way to a much larger goal. Some games like to hide their chapter structure by not stating outright which chapter the player is in. However, even in these games there is still a flow of events that can only be completed in a certain order, thus allowing the events to build on each other until the inevitable climax. This allows the completion of the game's objectives to feel like a real progression and not just a series of events, and it's a tool in games that's been used since the Atari 2600.

Games like Shadow of the Colossus tried to hide the chapter structure.

But some games didn't mind you knowing.

Experience Points

Experience points allow players to see exactly how much they've done in the game in hard numbers. In real life, the experience of riding a bike is usually so ingrained in someone who learns, that they don’t need a reminder of how to perform the action. Not having that real world connection to actions in a game (i.e. slaying a goblin) would hinder the player from knowing how that affects the character’s abilities without some kind of experience system. Allowing players to see a reward on screen as a reminder that their actions are influencing their character’s development is still an effective and sometimes powerful way to build an understanding of the game world, and to help the player understand exactly what the character can do within the game. Only hardcore RPGs had this type of system in place in the early days of gaming, but now just about every game has at least some type of experience system to allow for player progression.

Games as recent as Tomb Raider have utilized experience points for player progression.

Sprites

You know why Disney has classics that never age and are still watched to this day? It’s because the animators knew that choosing a timeless style would be preferable in the long run as opposed to using more trendy animation that could permanently date their films. This same principle applies to the games made for consoles in the 80s and 90s. Obviously, many games that used 2D sprites did so out of necessity since the hardware of the time was much more limited; however, the principle is the same. If you make a stylized game rather than a realistic one, it will look better for longer. This allows developers to make beautiful art without worrying about the uncanny valley and can potentially be played by new generations of gamers forever. Pushes towards photorealism in the industry are important as well, but even though these games are important in advancing the medium, they are ultimately made redundant by the next technical marvel down the line (when's the last time someone talked about RAGE?) and will never look as good for as long as games that go the less realistic route..

Games like Chrono Trigger will never really look bad.

Doom 3, on the other hand, is harder to go back and play.

Exploration

 Exploration is the one thing that no other piece of entertainment can offer. Whether its a wide open game world that allows the player to  go anywhere from the start or a linear game with only a few hidden collectibles to find, exploration makes games a unique experience. This concept allows players to feel like they are in a living, breathing world by allowing them to see the world from every angle. It occurs at seemingly random times, "I wonder if I can go over here..." or "I know that the game wants me to go this way, but I'm going to see if there's something hidden in the other direction." Most games want you to take a look around at the environment and see what the creators put there. This can be used to tell small stories, hide items, or put Easter eggs in places that some players would never see, and it's something that should remain in games for as long as they exist.

 

Entire games can be built around the concept...

...or they can be fun distractions from a focused story.

There are so many more design elements that early games pioneered, so this is hardly an exhaustive list. These are just 5 of the most important in games and help make games what they are. But what are some design elements that you look for in your favorite games?