| curl-6 said: With a few rare exceptions, you'll get no argumernt from me there. I know "linearity" has become a dirty word these days, but most of the time it's the best way to structure a game for a well paced experience, if you ask me. Open worlds usually lead to messy layouts and long, boring traversal. I reckon I'm in the minority here though. |
I mean, I don't agree that it's the best way to structure a game most of the time, at least in world design. Mario, to me, is an exeption though, because Mario was never meant to be a game about exploring a world. To me, it's like asking for an open world Mega Man. You play Mario to complete platforming challenges, just like you play Tetris to complete puzzle challenges, Mario Kart to complete racing challenges, or Smash Bros to complete battle challenges.
But when your game is based on traversing a world to any extent, I think open world is the natural progression to go. That doesn't necessarily mean open progression, though. Games like Final Fantasy and Pokemon are examples that would benefit from an open world, linear progression format.
Aside from examples like Uncharted which are structured to be paced like scenes in a movie, I struggle to think of many games where you're traversing a real world, yet the game isn't worse off for being linear in world design. And even then, I think that those should at least be open area, or little pockets of large open that connect to make a cohesive narrative.
