# data[].attributes.body
1. Background and Rational

2. Definition

3. Visual Guidance

4. Level Element Guidance

5. Sound guidance

6. References list

# data[].attributes.body
As with many elements of game development, it's hard to find a textbook that teaches game developers how to make a good game guide. These game developers often get inspiration by looking to the practices of experienced developers and designers.

Nowadays, game designers have a default rule when it comes to game guidance: use as little text as possible. Ernest Adams, founder of the International Game Developers Association, said: "Tutorials that require players to read a lot of text are not good tutorials." George Fan, the developer of Plants vs. Zombies, suggested that "there should be a maximum of eight words on the screen at any time." Indie developer Darran Jamieson simplifies the idea to: “Don’t overwhelm the player with text.” (Okko Z, 2022)

So how do we let the player know what to do next without using a lot of text? A good way to do this is to use the game environment, that is, to integrate game guidance into the scene.

# data[].attributes.body
The aim of this research is to:

Analyze how the game environment subtly guides the player.

In order to reach the aim of the research, I will study the following objectives:

1. To define the types of subtle guidance in the game environment.

2. To categorize subtle guidance in-game environments and use examples from other games.

3. To think critically about each subtly game environment guide individually.

# data[].attributes.body
First of all, we need to define what belongs to environmental guidance. I think the things that build the game worldview belong to the game environment, including non-interactive game backgrounds, interactive scene elements, and the sound of games. However, this does not include the text and NPCs that players will find in the scene, because this type of content is given directly to the player and is not part of subtly guides.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
"Timelie" uses the same color to express the correlation between electronic locks and electronic doors. Players know what to do without text or UI.

# data[].attributes.body
1. Color in the scene

For example, "Timelie" uses the same color to express the correlation between electronic locks and electronic doors. Without text or UI, players know that electronic locks of the same color are used to open the same door (Zhang H, 2022). This type of guidance usually incorporates a certain degree of decryption and is very controllable. In the early stage, it can be used as a guide to teach players the game mechanics, and in the later stage, the difficulty of the game can be increased in the same way. The relationship between different colored buttons and portals in "Portal" is a good example.

But it has to be admitted that many games on the market are very superficial in using color guidance in the scene. For example, the target points in "Tomb Raider" are displayed through highlights. Repeated use of this type of guidance can lead to player boredom. So I think we should try to avoid such guidance in the game, unless the game has a more important gameplay, to avoid players needing to think too much.

2. Natural environment in the scene

The book "Game Levels as Works of Art, Architecture, and Design" mentions many points worth thinking about. For example, the author believes that constructing the internal scene of the game can guide players to create the emotions desired by game developers by creating a game atmosphere and giving players a sense of immersion. Therefore, the unique lighting established in the game environment can also guide the player's actions (Totten, C. W. 2017). I agree with this point of view. For example, in "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild", when the player passes through a dark tunnel, the player can naturally move toward the light. I think that although this kind of guidance is very similar to color, the difference is that the special colors in the game are created by the game producers. Sometimes they are very inconsistent with the scene, but the presence of light must be integrated into the scene to make the player feel that it is a big scene. part of nature. The repeated appearance of this kind of guidance is usually more subtle, which will not make players aesthetically tired and also increase the difficulty for novice players to accept the guidance. In addition, this kind of guidance makes it difficult to become part of the decryption, and once there are more lights in the scene, it will make the scene look unnatural.

3. Scene design in game

Also in the book "Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design", there are many examples of architecture, including not only examples of games but also examples of Disney parks. For example, at Disneyland, the trash can-themed area has a variety of trash cans, but the real trash cans in the area are painted a special color. The silver color helps visitors differentiate. (Rogers. S et al., 2014). Not only that, the book "Interactive Storytelling and Gaming Environments for Museums: The Interactive Storytelling Exhibition Project" emphasizes the importance of immersing players in-game environments and making the environment part of the game narrative. Many of the examples of museum games in the article, such as the BBC1 television program set in Egypt, make extensive use of this approach (Danks, M. et al. 2007). I was also inspired by it. If the player is closely related to the game world view in the environment setting, and any content in the game needs to find answers from the environment, then the game environment can provide guidance for the player.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
The "gold coins" in the "Super Mario" map are the game's inductive teaching of the player's route. 

# data[].attributes.body
1. Common sense of player life

In actual use, this method overlaps with many scene guidance methods, such as the reward mechanism that will be discussed later: players will know that it is a reward when they see the treasure box in the scene, and will go forward to check it. When they see the door in the decryption game, The lock will know that it needs to find a key. Therefore, when designing the scene, you should try to design the elements in a way that players can understand with common sense. This method allows players to receive guidance at an extremely fast speed without destroying the player's immersive experience.

2. Bonus system

The "gold coins" in the "Super Mario" map are the game's inductive teaching of the player's route. The advantage of this approach is that by allowing players to obtain rewards in the game scene, it attracts them to take the path that the game designer wants them to take. But if this road is the only one in the game, giving rewards on this only passable road will make the rewards lose their due role and become boring. Therefore, this approach usually only occurs when players have multiple paths to choose from, placing rewards on the hardest path, such as Subway Surfers. This will encourage high-ability players to challenge more difficult paths, while low-ability players will not be unable to pass this level. Therefore, this is also a better way for players of different levels to maintain the flow of the game.

3. Similar operations

In "Hollow Knight", players will encounter three doors when they first enter the game. While using normal attacks to destroy the doors one by one, players will gradually master the feel of normal attacks. Immediately after a mob appears, the player will subconsciously attack because of habit and successfully defeat the mob. At this time, the player has learned to defeat the monster with normal attacks. (Zhang H, 2022) I think this type of guidance method is only suitable for guiding players to the most basic interactive guidance of the game, and cannot be used many times, because even if they are very effective, they are easy to let people lose because of their lack of interest. Players experience burnout.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
The music of the game “Hollow Knight" used two kinds of music to hint at the two main plot lines from the beginning.

# data[].attributes.body
1. Indirect guidance by narration

I think many people are already familiar with narration guidance, which directly tells the player what they need to do through a dialogue. I think this is not part of "clever guidance". However, there is an exception to this type of guidance. Although this type of guidance also uses narration, it does not let them directly tell the player what to do. Instead, it uses the player's rebellious psychology to tell the player what not to do. For example, "There is no game" and "The Stanley Parable". Although players in these games think that they have not followed the guidance, in fact, their behavior of "not following the rules of the game" is also designed, so this type of guidance will have It has one more function than other guides, which is to bring players an unexpected gaming experience and make them feel like they have broken the "fourth wall" between the game and the real world.

2. Background music guidance

A very important experimental result mentioned in 'Influence of Sound Direction and Distance on Immersive Experience in VR Gaming' is that when the player encounters a dark scene, the sound design enhances the player's immersion in the horror environment. As a result, players spend less time staring or looking for visual guidance. (Huang & Cheng, 2022) I think this is good support for sound being able to influence player behavior. Beyond that, I think if the sound captures the player's curiosity, it will also help guide the game. For example, many music rhythm games use background sounds to help players get interactive prompts for the next step. What’s interesting is that the music of the game “Hollow Knight" used two kinds of music to hint at the two main plot lines from the beginning. We can guess the identity of the plot characters through the music. There will be a fake boss in the game, and the background music is this theme. Variations of the melody. As the plot develops, players will discover that the identity of the fake Boss is stolen, so the background music for its appearance is also a melody stolen from the protagonist. I think this approach is very conducive to the player experience, whether it is the sense of accomplishment that the player gets from discovering the clues brought by the music in advance, or coming back to savor it after the game is over.

# data[].attributes.body
1.     Danks, M. et al. (2007) ‘Interactive storytelling and gaming environments for museums: The interactive storytelling exhibition project’, Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), 4469 LNCS, pp. 104–115. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-73011-8_13/COVER.

2.     Huang, M. T., & Cheng, C. W. (2022). Influence of Sound Direction and Distance on Immersive Experience in VR Gaming. Proceedings of the 2022 5th IEEE International Conference on Knowledge Innovation and Invention, ICKII 2022, 136–137. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICKII55100.2022.9983604

3.     Okko Z. (2022). Long case study: How to create a fun immersive game guidance tutorial - GameRes Youzi.com. Available at: https://www.gameres.com/892659.html

4.     Rogers. S et al. (2014).Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design - Scott Rogers. (pp234). Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=zh-CN&lr=&id=UT5jAwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA163&dq=Game+guide&ots=Jzjk3gcu2O&sig=H0w-vIimAqPg4c4aH7sD0SdXbPE#v=onepage&q=Game%20guide&f=false.

5.     Totten, C. W. (2017). Game Levels as Works of Art, Architecture, and Design. In T. Funk (Ed.), Video Game Art Reader: Volume 1 (pp. 11–18). Amherst College Press. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3998/mpub.12471115.5

6.     Zhang H. (2022, May 24). How to provide novice guidance that allows players to “understand it as soon as they see it and master it as soon as they play it” - Tencent Game School. Available at: https://gwb.tencent.com/community/detail/133786