Testing Achievements

Achievements given simply by having tested some action in the game.

Examples

For longer single-player games, and especially those with multiple endings, Goal Achievements are typically tied to completing quests. Examples of such achievements can be found in the later installments

Fallout:New Vegas of the Fallout series encourages players to get a companion through rewarding them with the Ol' Buddy Ol' Pal achievement (

e.g. Ain't That a Kick in the Head, Arizona Killer, and No Gods, No Masters in Fallout: New Vegas

can be said to

The action RPG Torchlight has the achievements Fetch a Fair Price, Shape-Shifter, and Pet Trainer to encourage players to use the functionality their pets provide, while the achievement Mod Squad is rewarded for players installing a mod to the game.

In contrast, multiplayer games that structure gameplay around shorter game sessions. For the Left 4 Dead Series this includes completing campaigns such as Midnight Rider, Weatherman, and Torch Bearer in L4D2, while for World of Warcraft Goal Achievements are structured around completing dungeons and raids, e.g. Blackfathom Deeps, Uldaman, and Zul'Gurub by defeating Aku'mai, Archaedas, and Hakkar respectively.

Using the pattern

Testing Achievements are typically designed through selecting some of the optional activities supported by the game, one that might otherwise be overlooked if players are focused on one strategy of completing or winning the game. However, for games with Varied Gameplay one can construct Testing Achievements to make players test other ways of playing the game, so these types of Achievements can also be used to encouraged Varied Gameplay if the difference in gameplay is under players' choice (rather than the game varying the gameplay between different parts). Even if the required actions by players often are trivially easy in Testing Achievements, they can be made even easier by awarding them simply for trying - actions do not have to be successfully performed for the achievement to be given.

What differs Testing Achievements from Goal Achievements is simply that even if performing the activity could be see as a goal, it is a trivial goal to succeed with and the main requirement is that the player is willing to try the activity (and does not need to successfully complete it). However, Testing Achievements and Goal Achievements can be used in pair - the first for trying to perform some activity and the second for showing that one has mastered that specific activity through reaching a non-trivial goal. An example of this is the achievements Ol' Buddy Ol' Pal and The Whole Gang's Here in Fallout:New Vegas which are given for having recruited any Companion and having recruited all respectively. Grinding Achievements may be constructed from requiring players to perform the same activity as the same used in Testing Achievements, but repeatedly performing an activity is directly opposite to testing it.

All types of Achievements can be used to create Meta Games based on Collection goals. Testing Achievements are in this respect low hanging fruits that can be used to increase the number of Achievements without demanding an especially high increase in effort needed to complete the Collection.

Consequences

Like other types of Achievements, Testing Achievements can be seen as a type of Reward and a basis for Meta Games. Testing Achievements can, unlike other types of Achievements, support Smooth Learning Curves since they can provide motivation to players during the start of engaging in some type activity when players are learning and Experimenting.

For games with Varied Gameplay, Testing Achievements can be used to make players at least test the different ways of playing for a short while. This may promote Replayability, but is probably more likely to do so when combined with Goal Achievements to provide Rewards both for beginning to play a certain way and for successfully completing the game or Quest in a game by playing a certain way.

History

New pattern created in this wiki.