Tales of the Rampant Coyote

Adventures in Indie Gaming!

Game Development Quote of the Week – Early Richard Garriott

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 6, 2013

Now, bear in mind that this was said less than a third of the way into his career (so far) – around the time of Ultima 6’s development. But here’s an old quote from Richard “Lord British” Garriott on his RPG design philosophy during Ultima’s heyday:

“My philosophy is that once you get people compelled enough to sit down and play the game, the whole way you make the game successful is by giving them enough unique ways to do things. First, let them deal with pulling levers and things like that for a while. Then after they’ve mastered that, you give them something else to do, like getting through doorways by blasting them down with a cannon… Next, you give them a monster-finding quest, followed by logic problems to figure out. You pace it that way. Assorted activities and the diversity of activities are what makes a game rich in my mind.”

— Richard Garriott, as quoted by Shay Addams in The Official Book of Ultima, 1990

So there you go.

Actually, that’s not too wildly different from most games today. The standard formula is to provide an activity, let the player master it, then keep adding new skills / activities and then test them in combination. So maybe you start out by learning to move, then learning to jump, then being able to move and jump in combination, then learn to double-jump, then require all three skills to be used in a level, etc.


Filed Under: Design - Comments: 4 Comments to Read



  • OttoMoBiehl said,

    I think this is one of the reasons why the Ultima games endure to this day. Can’t argue with game mechanics like that!

  • Cuthalion said,

    Portal is probably a semi-recent example of a game that does this really well. The catch I always worry about is, how do I pace it so that people won’t get bored and think, “This is all there is?” without throwing so much at a player that they get confused!

  • Anon said,

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    https://www.humblebundle.com/weekly

    Even if this isn’t the developer version it is IMHO a really great deal for people wanting to take a whiff into games programming.

    The costs are next to nothing and the publisher even made the Humble version eligible for updates (pissing off some regular buyers ;-)).

  • Xenovore said,

    The difference with modern game design, however, is to treat the player like a complete imbecile and force him to learn to move, then learn to jump, etc. in spite of the fact the the player has played this type of game before — or a game very much like it — multiple times, and already gets it.

    To paraphrase Vasquez: “I only need to know one thing: where to go.”

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