Clues

Game elements or information in the game environment that give the players information about how the goals of the game can be reached.

Players may be unsure about how to fulfill goals in games for several reasons. They may have misunderstood the descriptions provided, they may know what the goals are but not how to reach them, or the games may be designed so figuring out what the goals are is part of the gameplay. Clues are game elements or information that players can find through gameplay that helps them become aware of what the goals actually are. The Clues may be explicit, describing exactly how to reach the goal, or implicit, describing facts and events in the game world which need to be interpreted by the players. Of course, this categorization is not clear-cut, as the vagueness of the clues can vary.

Examples

Non-Player Characters in The Legends of Zelda series often provide players with tips about how to not only play the game but how the interface works. The series also makes uses of signs in the environment to show where different locations are; this design solution is also present in the Elder Scrolls series. Signs are also used in most racing games, e.g. the Gran Turismo series, the Need for Speed series, and the Sega Rally series, to contain warnings about upcoming curves.

In the board game Mansion of Madness, game masters place a sequence of cards representing Clues that help players finding out how to win the scenarios they are playing.

Using the pattern

Clues may take the form of advice, encouragement, or warning. Advice tells players what to do before they have started performing a set of actions; encouragement provides feedback that a given action is correct although the goal or the closure is not completed yet; and warning gives players advice on what not to do. Encouragement is typically used to indicate completion of low-level subgoals or to promote further Exploration of a given area or object. A more specific encouragement is to use a Near Miss Indicator to indicate that the player started performing the right actions but failed to do them correctly.

A Clue can either be an object in the game, which has to be taken or manipulated to change the game state, or plain information. In the latter case, the Clue is an Outstanding Feature and can also be Extra-Game Information if it is about something outside the Game World. Of course, the Clue may be about how to use the game controls or the game mechanics, which automatically makes it Extra-Game Information. These forms of Clues, however, may break the Consistent Reality Logic and Emotional Immersion in the game, with one example being arrows that show the way to the exit of a Level. If the clues are set within the Consistent Reality Logic of the game or support the Alternative Reality of the game, they can also be used to support the Narrative Structure.

Two typical forms of Clues are Helpers and Traces. Helpers can provide Indirect Information to the players on how to reach the goals, and Traces allow the players to indirectly deduce how to locate Deadly Traps and Enemies, for example. Other Clues provide more Direct Information, for example, arrow signs to indicate directions where the player should go or explicit warning signs about dangers ahead.

Clues, especially warnings and Helpers, may be used to indirectly guide players who have gone astray toward the goals and the main areas of the Game World thus enacting Game World Navigation. An excellent example of such a Helper is the owl in The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, who sometimes flies in to steer the player to the correct places.

The direct use of Clues is as goal objects in either a Gain Information or Gain Ownership goal, for example to learn about Achilles' Heels. The player knows about the existence of the Clue and strives to retrieve the additional information by going to a specific location in the Game World.

A Clue may not necessarily lead the players towards actions they perceive as beneficial for the progress in the game. When this is the case, the Clue is used to promote actions, which the players would probably not otherwise initiate, in order to support the Narrative Structure or to promote Player Balance and Cooperation. This may be construed as a Red Herring pattern, used to trick players into actions that are against their low-level goals but that may be required to complete the game narrative or to put the players in positions so that they can reach the higher-level goals of the game. Clues to finding Easter Eggs are examples of luring players to perform actions that are not necessarily required to complete or win games but can rather be seen as Clues to Unknown Goals.

Casual Gameplay

Game World Navigation

Goal Hierarchies

Can Be Instantiated By

Diegetically Outstanding Features, Environmental Storytelling, Geospatial Game Widgets, Information Passing, Landmarks, Props, Traces

Can Be Modulated By

Mini-maps

Diegetic Aspects

Clues do not have to be diegetic since they relate to reaching gameplay goals, but making them fit with a game's Diegetic Consistency lets players use the facts about its Alternative Reality to better understand the Clues.

Narrative Aspects

Game Items Cutscenes Dialogues

Consequences

Clues can be used to provide the Right Level of Difficulty and Smooth Learning Curves, especially in the case where the game provides more Clues to the player if the progress is too slow. The Clues are often used to guide the player through the Narrative Structure of the game and create Tension by signaling the existence of dangers before they actually occur. This is especially the case in adventure games, which use Clues as the basic Resources of the player.

Clues are a form of Illusionary Reward, since they do not have to help players nor do they actually have to change the game state in a beneficial way for the players.

Can Modulate

Challenging Gameplay, Detective Structure, Enemies, Game Worlds, Levels, Traps

with Diegetic Consistency

Alternative Reality

Relations

Can Modulate

Challenging Gameplay, Detective Structure, Enemies, Game Worlds, Levels, Traps

with Diegetic Consistency

Alternative Reality

Can Be Instantiated By

Diegetically Outstanding Features, Environmental Storytelling, Geospatial Game Widgets, Information Passing, Landmarks, Props, Traces

Can Be Modulated By

Mini-maps

Possible Closure Effects

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Potentially Conflicting With

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History

An updated version of the pattern Clues that was part of the original collection in the book Patterns in Game Design.

Acknowledgements

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