Masahiro Sakurai has released a new YouTube video looking into the concept of customisation in video games.
It's not the most groundbreaking stuff imaginable and it will likely only truly resonate with budding game developers. Still, since Sakurai has announced that he will be winding down his YouTube channel this year, we're making the most of it, dagnabbit.
Many games, particularly sprawling RPGs or adventure games, allow players to fully customise their characters, whether it be humans, mechs, vehicles, or even animals. Sakurai spends a bit of time going through how developers can make the process of customisation fun for the player, and there are five key points that you ought to think about if this is something you're potentially going to contribute to in the future:
1. Illustrate the Effect - if you're upgrading or customising weaponry, visualising the effect is more memorable than a series of stats or numbers.
2. Make the Pros and Cons Clear - allow players to view comparisons between options, clarifying meaningful differences.
3. Make it Easy to Select What You Want to Customise - when players accumulate lots of items, categorising these or making effects clear can make selections easier.
4. Let Players Try Things Quickly - this is rather self-explanatory, but being able to test new load-outs or items immediately is something that many games have neglected to offer players.
5. Make the Designs Cool - as Sakurai says, "Nobody wants to use something that doesn't look good".
It's another demonstration of what makes Sakurai such an accomplished game designer, and thankfully it looks like we might be experiencing something new from the creator in the future, as he recently clarified that he is indeed still working on games alongside his YouTube channel.